UAE astronauts in Moscow for training program

An American delegation, including representatives of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) and nine candidates for a flight to the International Space Station (ISS), arrived in Moscow on Thursday for intensive medical check-ups before the space flight.

The Head of Department of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, scholar Mark Blakowski, said that the selection of the nine candidates took place according to two phases. In the first phase, all applications were reviewed, and 100 candidates were selected.

In the second phase, the committee, which included representatives of the Russian centre for the training of cosmonauts and representatives of the Institute, examined biological and medical issues, and selected nine candidates who have now arrived in Russia for the necessary tests, according to the Russian TASS News Agency.

Blakowski added that five out of the nine candidates had undergone medical examinations, while the remaining four would be examined shortly.

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The tests will be conducted by experts from the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, including detailed medical and physical tests aimed at ensuring that candidates are ready for spaceflight training and related tasks, which may last up to 14 days per candidate.

Two of them (the main astronaut and a reserve astronaut) will be selected after examinations and tests are completed.

The direct preparation of the two astronauts will start in August 2018. The flight will take place in April 2019 and will take ten days.

The UAE, represented by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), and Russia, represented by the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, have signed a cooperation agreement to send the first UAE astronaut to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS spacecraft to participate in scientific research.

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Roscosmos Space Agency will train two astronauts, one in the main crew and the other in the reserve crew. The primary candidate will join a team consisting of a Russian commander and a US astronaut aboard the Soyuz MS, which will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS).

While the other seven UAE astronauts will receive intensive training programs that will enable them to carry out missions in space for long periods of time.