Space explorers are united by a common language, says UAE's first astronaut

In exploring the cosmos, the world speaks one language and that’s science, the UAE’s first astronaut has said, as he shared how space missions can unite countries despite differences.

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Taking a break from his 30-month intensive training programme at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) in the US, Emirati astronaut Hazzaa AlMansoori recently attended the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX) 2021 in Russia and spoke about how the UAE made the impossible possible.

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International partnerships, he said, helped the Emirates pull off several historic space missions in just a few years.

“Despite our different backgrounds and beliefs when it comes to space exploration, the one thing that will always unite us is that we speak one common language which is science, and that’s the most important thing,” AlMansoori said, addressing over 700 people from 32 nations who came together for GLEX. At the onsite event, countries have made high-level commitments to continue international collaborations in space.

AlMansoori had always dreamt of being an astronaut but back in the 1990s, he found it impossible as the UAE had no space infrastructure yet. “However, despite being a small country, the UAE had the vision and decided to build its own capabilities in space,” he said.

“The UAE started to build its own space agency in 2006 and we decided to work with different countries. We believe that working with different countries will be an enriching experience and that will help us push our frontiers. So we built our own satellites in 2010 and we established our own space human flight programme in cooperation with Roscosmos. We were on our first flight to space in 2019. I was on board that flight with my Russian colleague Oleg Skripochka and Nasa astronaut Jessica Meir,” he added.