The sky is no longer the limit! The countdown has begun. April 2019 is when the first Emirati astronaut is due blast into space.
In a deal signed with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, a Soyuz rocket will carry the UAE astronaut on mission to the International Space Station. According to the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, the mission will last ten days, with the flight, MS-12, carrying a Russian commander and American flight engineer. The identity of the first UAE astronaut is still to be revealed, Dubai Media Office, quoting the space centre in a tweet, says training will begin next month. The news was first announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, who called it an “historic agreement.” "Our vision to develop the national space sector, which began 12 years ago, is beginning to bear fruit,” Sheikh Mohammed wrote on his Twitter feed. Sheikh Mohammed gave the Emirates Mars Mission, the construction of the first UAE-made satellite KhalifaSat and the training of Emirati astronauts as examples of the country's progression in the field. The agreement was signed on the side lines of the United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE), in the Austrian capital Vienna this week. It was signed on behalf of the UAE by Yousef Hamad Al Shaibani, Director General of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, and Ahmed Bahloul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills. It was announced last year that the UAE was creating an astronaut corps, with the aim of sending an Emirati into space by 2021. Over 4,000 people applied, with shortlist of 95 men and women between the ages of 23 and 48 announced earlier this month. The final corps of four would then undergo training for long term missions on the ISS, an international collaboration between five bodies, including the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and the European Space Agency, which represents 13 nations. The intention is that UAE astronauts would carry out long term scientific research lasting many months on the ISS.