The United Arab Emirates is looking for the next astronaut as the country wants to continue space exploration after sending the first Emirati to the International Space Station (ISS), Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the country's prime minister and the ruler of Dubai, said on Friday
DOHA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th December, 2019) The United Arab Emirates is looking for the next astronaut as the country wants to continue space exploration after sending the first Emirati to the International Space Station (ISS), Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the country's prime minister and the ruler of Dubai, said on Friday.
"We are looking for a new astronaut to perform another task for the UAE in space. Those who have the desire and energy can register [for the program] in the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center. Our mission continues, and we are at the beginning of the road in space exploration," he wrote on Twitter.
The prime minister noted that both men and women could apply to become the next Emirati astronaut.
Under a bilateral partnership program in September, Russian space agency Roscosmos sent the first UAE astronaut, Hazzaa Ali Al Mansoori, to the ISS aboard Russia's Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft. Al Mansoori spent eight days on the space station before returning on October 3.
Prior to the flight, he spent months training at Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
In November, the director of space missions at the UAE Space Agency, Khaled Hashmi, told Sputnik that his country might continue cooperation with Russia to send new astronauts to the ISS, while also considering other countries among possible partners.
