Nora Al Matrooshi: 1st Arab Women Astronaut – (Gender Equality In Space)

Nora Al Matrooshi, a 27-year-old Emirati engineer, is set to be the first Arab woman astronaut in an orbital mission. After the success of the first batch of the United Arab Emirates’ space astronaut program recently the second batch of candidates was announced. Noura Al Matrooshi along with Mohammed Al Mulla was selected from 4305 candidates who applied for the second batch of UAE’s space astronaut program.

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Nora Al Matrooshi – About The First Arab Woman Astronaut

Born in 1993 in the Emirate of Sharjah, Nora Al Matrooshi is a mechanical engineer by profession. She completed her BS in mechanical engineering at United Arab Emirates University. She appeared in the 2011 International Mathematical Olympiad organized in Amsterdam. She has been a student of the Vaasa University of Applied Sciences (VAMK) in Finland. She learned Korean at Hanyang University in Seoul. She has been working as a piping engineer at the UAE’s National Petroleum Construction Company since 2016. Her passion for space science has contributed to the realization of a child’s dream.

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UAE Astronaut Program 

Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre of UAE is responsible for the UAE Astronaut Program. As of now, UAE has a total of 4 astronauts. Hazzaa Al Mansoori from the first batch became 1st astronaut in space from the United Arab Emirates. He spent eight days in the International Space Station in a mission launched with Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft on 25 September 2019. The second person from the first batch is Sultan Al Neyadi, he was a backup choice for the ISS mission. Both the candidates from the first batch were trained at Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. 

The latest and the second batch also has two candidates, one is Nora Al Matrooshi, the first female astronaut of UAE also dubbed as the First Arab ‘space girl’. The other candidate of the second batch is 33 years old piolet Mohammad Al Mulla. 

NASA’s Training Program

All the four astronauts of UAE will be trained by NASA under an agreement of both nations. These astronauts will join other candidates of NASA Astronaut Group 23. The training will take place at Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, US. Due to COVID-19, the training has been postponed twice. These candidates after the rigorous training of two years will be able to join the NASA-led space missions. 

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Women In Space

Starting from 1961 it has been 60 years since humans are flying in space, with the 1st woman launching off planet Earth in 1963. As of December 2019, of the 565 total space travelers, 65 have been women. There is a huge time gap of 19 years between the 1st and 2nd women launched in space. Given the total flights by humans in space the proportion of women is still less. The selection of Nora Al Matrooshi as the first Arab woman astronaut is a good sign of women’s representation in space. 

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Interesting Facts About Women In Space

• Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian cosmonaut born on 6 March 1937, is the first woman to fly in space. Launched in space with Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963, she is also the only woman to make a solo spaceflight in space till now. Moreover, Valentina Tereshkova’s age at the time of flight was 26 years which makes her the youngest woman in space.
• Svetlana Savitskaya also from the Soviet Union born on Aug. 8, 1948, is the first woman to fly on a space station. She is the first woman to perform a spacewalk. Svetlana Savitskaya is also the first woman to make two spaceflights.
• Sally Ride from the USA (born on May 26, 1951, and died on Jul. 23, 2012), was the first American woman in space.
• Kathryn D. Sullivan from the USA and born on Oct. 3, 1951, was the second woman to perform a spacewalk and the first American woman to do so.
• Anna Lee Fisher from the USA and born on Aug. 24, 1949, is the first mother in space.
• Shannon Lucid from the USA, born on Jan. 14, 1943, is the first American woman to fly on a space station. She is also the first woman to make a third, a fourth, and a fifth spaceflight.
• Kathryn C. Thornton from the USA and born on Aug. 17, 1952, is the first woman to make multiple extravehicular activities (EVAs) outside the earth’s atmosphere.
• Helen Sharman from the UK, born on May 30, 1963, is the first British citizen in space.
• Millie Hughes-Fulford from the USA, born on Dec. 21, 1945, is the first female payload specialist.
• Roberta Bondar from Canada, born on Dec. 4, 1945, is the first Canadian woman in space.  
• Jan Davis from the USA, born Nov. 1, 1953, went to space with her husband Mark C. Lee in 1992. This makes them the first married couple to go to space together.
• Mae Jemison from the USA, born on Oct. 17, 1956, is the first African-American woman in space.
• Ellen Ochoa from the USA, born on May 10, 1958, is the first Hispanic woman in space.
• Chiaki Mukai from Japan, born on May 6, 1952, is the first Japanese woman in space.
• Eileen Collins from the USA, born on Nov. 19, 1956, is the first female shuttle pilot and shuttle commander. She commanded the 95th launch of the Space Shuttle STS-93. The primary objective of STS-93 was to deploy the Chandra X-ray Observatory in space.
• Claudie Haigneré from France, born on May 13, 1957, is the first Frenchwoman in space. 
• Kalpana Chawla, from the USA, born on Jul. 1, 1961, and died on Feb. 1, 2003, was the first Indian-origin woman in space. She was a naturalized U.S. citizen who died during the Columbia disaster.
• Peggy Whitson from the USA, born on Feb. 9, 1960, is the first female ISS commander (ISS Expedition 16). She is also the oldest woman in space at the age of 57. Peggy Whitson has spent 665 days cumulatively in space, this is the longest time spent by a USA astronaut.
• Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American engineer born on Sep. 12, 1966, is the first female space tourist. She is also the first Iranian in space.
• Barbara Morgan from the USA, born on Nov. 28, 1951, is the first educator astronaut in space.
• Yi So-yeon from South Korea, born on Jun. 2, 1978, is the first Korean in space.
• Liu Yang from Chain, born on Oct. 6, 1978, is the first Chinese woman in space.
• Yelena Serova from Russia, born on Apr. 22, 1976, is the first Russian woman to visit the ISS. She was a member of ISS Expedition 41.
• Samantha Cristoforetti from Italy, born on Apr. 26, 1977, is the first Italian woman in space and the first Italian woman on ISS in the ISS Expedition 42/43.
• Beth Moses from the USA is the first woman to make a spaceflight on a commercially launched vehicle.
• Christina Koch from the USA, born on Feb. 2, 1979, has spent 328 days in space continuously, this is the largest by any female astronaut. Christina Koch along with Jessica Meir became the first two women to undertake an all-female EVA during ISS Expedition 61.
• Jessica Meir, a Swedish-American NASA astronaut born on July 15, 1977, is the fifteenth woman to walk in space (during ISS Expedition 61). She is the last woman as of 17 April 2020 till now.

Conclusion

The selection of Nora Al Matrooshi as the first Arab woman astronaut is a celebrating step of women’s equality in the space program. This will inspire the other nations to take a step ahead in space exploration by showing gender equality. On the other hand, the last feat achieved by the Arab nation was the success of the Emirates Mars Mission (the hope probe) which is again an important step and motivating factor for other gulf countries. Just to make you aware of the fact that to date no women have been on the moon’s surface. All 12 people who have walked on the Moon are American men. NASA with its Artemis mission is planning to send the first women on the moon.