UAE Narrows Astronaut Candidates to 9

Doug Messier News 4 Comments
The Soyuz MS-07 rocket is launched with Expedition 54 Soyuz Commander Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos, flight engineer Scott Tingle of NASA, and flight engineer Norishige Kanai of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Shkaplerov, Tingle, and Kanai will spend the next five months living and working aboard the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The game of musical chairs for four slots in the United Arab Emirates astronaut program continues at the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).

Out of 18 candidates, nine passed the one-to-one interviews in the MBRSC and are scheduled to undergo an intensive assessment in Russia by experts from Roscosmos.

Once the assessment is completed, the UAE will be choose the first Emirati astronaut corps out of four Emirati astronauts. The tests will be conducted by experts from Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, and will include intensive medical and physical tests to ensure that candidates are ready for special space-related training.

The center has book a ride to the International Space Station for its first astronaut aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for 2019.

  • windbourne

    Bigelow should be all over this and trying to get UAE on-board.

  • JS Initials

    The Russians sure could use Arab money.

  • Tom Billings

    Bigelow had 7 different MOUs with different governments signed, back when everyone thought Commercial Crew would be allowed to proceed at a good pace. IIRC, there was Japan, India, the UK, Australia, …and who else? Was UAE in there?

  • Robert G. Oler

    I doubt there is enough money from them