Abu Dhabi – The first two Emirati astronauts have today been announced on social media.
The trailblazers who will make history in the annals of the UAE space programme are Hazza Ali Abdan Khalfan Al Mansouri and Sultan Seif Meftah Hamad Al Neyadi.
They have been selected out of more than 4,000 candidates who applied, hoping to join the UAE astronaut programme.
They emerged as the most viable candidates out of nine appliacants who qualified to the final and decisive phase.
They have undergone intensive assessment in Russia under the supervision of prominent experts from the Russian Space Agency (Roscomos).
Hazza and Sultan will undergo further intensive training, but one of them will be joining a crew of a Russian commander and an American astronaut in Soyuz MS-12 spaceflight, set to be launched to ISS in April 2019.
UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Dubai Ruler Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and UAE Armed Forces Deputy Supreme Commander Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan congratulated the two laureates.