The UAE's first woman astronaut Nora Al Matrooshi has been training in one of the world's largest indoor pools to prepare for future spacewalks.
New images of Ms Al Matrooshi and her colleague Mohammed Al Mulla show them in their Extravehicular Mobility Unit – a 145kg suit that astronauts wear to perform spacewalks.
Training is carried out in a pool filled with 2.3 million litres of water at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, Texas.
Ms Matrooshi, 30, and Mr Al Mulla, 34, are the newest members of the UAE's astronaut corps, which now has four members.
They follow in the footsteps of Hazza Al Mansouri, the first Emirati man in space who spent eight days on the International Space Station in 2019 and Sultan Al Neyadi, who is currently on the ISS.
Dr Al Neyadi has completed the first spacewalk by an Arab astronaut during his six-month mission and is set to return to Earth this month.
“Proud of our Emirati astronauts Mohammed Al Mulla and Nora Al Matrooshi who are undergoing their spacewalk training,” said Salem Al Marri, director general of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, which oversees the country's astronaut programme.
“These training [programmes] are part of the main preparations that they are pursuing at Nasa for future missions.
“We are confident in their abilities and in our ambitious youth, who are constantly aiming for unparalleled success.
“Sultan conducted the first Arab spacewalk, but it surely won’t be the last.”
Are these Emirati astronauts going on a mission?
Ms Al Matrooshi and Mr Al Mulla have not been assigned a mission yet, but they are part of a Nasa training programme that would help them become eligible for Nasa-led missions once they graduate early next year.
The two-and-a-half-year programme helped them become familiar with the challenges and requirements of space travel.
These include learning what zero-gravity feels like, studying the ISS systems, learning Russian, training in the wilderness, robotics and spacewalk training.
The space centre hopes to secure a mission to the space station every three to four years, although the ISS will eventually retire end of this decade.
Companies such as Axiom Space and Blue Origin have plans to build commercial space stations that government astronauts could use.
The UAE also has its sights set on sending Emiratis to the Moon one day.
How do astronauts train for spacewalks?
Each hour spent doing a spacewalk requires seven hours of training in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory pool, which provides a similar sensation of weightlessness.
Astronauts routinely float outside of the orbiting outpost for seven to eight hours at a time to conduct maintenance work on the spaceship.
As part of the training, there is a mock-up of the ISS beneath the pool that astronauts use to carry out practice tasks on.
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Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
