In a post to X, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the nation’s plans to send the first Emirati astronaut to the Moon. 

The announcement came alongside the news of the historic agreement between NASA and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), in which the MBRSC will construct an airlock – an airtight compartment that allows for entrance and exit between environments of differing atmospheric pressure – for Lunar Gateway, humanity’s first space station planned to orbit the Moon.

The Lunar Gateway, commonly referred to as Gateway, is an international collaboration between NASA and the MBRSC, as well as the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), ESA (European Space Agency), and  JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). The UAE’s involvement in the project guarantees it receives appropriate training for its astronauts and flights to the gateway.

Gateway is to be used for the United States’ Artemis program, following the signing of the Artemis Accords: a set of updated principles and guidelines, based on the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, created to guide civil space exploration. The UAE was among the original signers of the Artemis Accords in 2020.

Gateway is being designed and engineered on Earth and NASA plans to assemble it in the Moon’s orbit within the decade. Currently, there has yet to be any news as to which Emirati astronaut will be selected for Gateway missions. As it stands, the UAE has four astronauts in its training corps and is in the process of scouting more. The most recent Emirati astronaut sent to space was Sultan Al Neyadi, who launched in 2023 on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission.

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