Two UAE astronauts gear up for spacewalk training at NASA’s NBL

In a historic move, the United Arab Emirates astronauts Nora Al Matrooshi and Mohammad Al Mulla are all set to receive space-walk training at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas.

The Emirates astronauts will receive training under NASA’s ‘2021 astronaut candidate training programme’.

 NBL is an astronaut training facility with the world’s largest indoor pool which is used for simulated spacewalk training.

Primarily, the astronauts will receive training for space missions involving Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) or spacewalks.

Nora Al Matrooshi, UAE’s first woman astronaut and Mohammad Al Mulla are currently receiving training in the depths of the massive facility, which is 202 feet long, 102 feet wide, and 40 feet deep, to learn the complex procedures required for space travel.

The Emirati astronauts’ training at the NBL is crucial to their future role in space missions because spacewalks are a fundamental component of both ongoing and upcoming space exploration missions.

Al Matrooshi and Al Mulla are from the second batch of the UAE Astronaut Programme. They were selected in 2021 alongside 10 other candidates from a pool of over 12,000 applicants.

The UAE Astronaut Programme is one of the projects managed by MBRSC under the UAE’s National Space Programme and funded by the ICT Fund of Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), which aims to support research and development in the ICT sector in the UAE and promote the country’s integration on the global stage.