Emirati Astronauts Nora Al Matrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla to Undergo Spacewalk Training at Johnson Space Center

Today, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center announced that astronauts Nora Al Matrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla will undergo spacewalk training in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory located at the Johnson Space Center, as part of the 23rd batch of NASA astronauts.

These exercises represent an important step in the march of the two Emirati pioneers, as they have already completed a set of exercises during the previous period, including survival exercises in the most difficult conditions, and a visit to the Marshall Space Missions Center to learn about the center’s tasks and programs.

The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory exercises, which is located in the American city of Houston, are one of the most important methods for preparing astronauts for spacewalk missions, and they take place in a huge swimming pool, which is 202 feet long, 102 feet wide, and 40 feet deep.

The exercises are considered one of the important experiences for astronauts, before any space mission, where the space suit is worn under the surface of the water, inside a huge swimming pool prepared for training, with the use of weights that maintain the level of the astronauts, to avoid falling below the bottom, or floating to the surface, and this comes to put Astronauts are in a state similar to weightlessness and gravity, spending 6 hours underwater, which equates to one hour during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station.

Spacewalk missions are one of the most important tasks carried out by astronauts aboard the International Space Station, so these exercises enhance the role of Noura Al Matrooshi and Muhammad Al Mulla in the future during any space missions, as the International Space Station requires hundreds of hours of spacewalk missions to be maintained and updated periodically. .

On April 28, astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi succeeded in being the first Arab astronaut to embark on a spacewalk mission, accompanied by astronaut Stephen Bowen, over a period of 7 hours and one minute, and one of the main goals of this mission was to work on a series One of the preparatory tasks was to install solar panels, which was successfully accomplished.

Noura Al Matrooshi and Muhammad Al Mulla were selected as part of the NASA training program for the year 2021, along with 10 other astronauts. These candidates were selected from among 12,000 applicants from all over the United States, to participate in advanced training at the Johnson Space Center, where all participants will graduate. In the program as eligible astronauts for space missions in early 2024.

It is noteworthy that the UAE Astronaut Programme, which is managed by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, is one of the projects funded by the Information and Communications Technology Fund of the Communications and Digital Government Authority, and aims to support research and development in the information and communication technology sector.

2023-08-14 12:47:10
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