Candidates for astronauts from the UAE arrived in Moscow for medical selection.
Dubai, UAE. The delegation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which included representatives of the Space Center Mohammed bin Rashid and 9 applicants for the flight, arrived in Russia to conduct a medical selection for organizing a space flight with various scientific missions.
Medical selection of applicants will take place within three weeks. Based on the survey, two candidates will be selected. The direct preparation of the UAE astronaut and his understudy for the flight to the International Space Station (ISS) will begin in August 2018. The flight of the first UAE astronaut to the ISS is planned in April 2019 and will last about a week. The launch will be carried out on the Soyuz MS-12 transport manned spacecraft.
Roscosmos State Corporation’s Manned Space Program Director S.K. Krikalev said: “We have begun practical cooperation with the Space Center of Muhammad bin Rashid in the preparation for the first UAE astronaut’s flight. We hope that our cooperation with partners from the United Arab Emirates will gain long-term and strategic. "
The Director General of the Space Center of Mohammed bin Rashid Yusuf Al Shaibani noted: “We value constructive and positive cooperation with an organization with such a rich history as Roscosmos State Corporation. We expect to receive a detailed assessment of the medical condition of each candidate, which will be an important stage in the selection process of the first cosmonaut United Arab Emirates".
Muhammad bin Rashid Space Center was founded in 2006 to create the UAE's national space program. The center produces and manages Earth remote sensing satellites, provides satellite imagery and services based on them to consumers around the world. The center is responsible for the development of the UAE’s Martian mission, according to which the UAE plans to send a probe to Mars in 2021, which will collect scientific information about the "red planet", as well as for the national manned program. The Center plans to develop the concept of Mars-2117 to create a human colony on Mars. The first step in the implementation of this concept will be the creation in 2020 of the Martian science city.
