Analysis: UAE’s achievements reach space

Written by Mohammed Jalal Alrayssi, Executive Director of the Emirate News Agency, WAM ABU DHABI, 3rd September, 2018 (WAM) -- The UAE’s ongoing achievements that are taking place have succeeded in transforming ideas into reality, with the support of the wise leadership, who today declared a new Arab achievement related to space, by announcing the names of the first two Emirati astronauts who will travel to the International Space Station.

This achievement highlights the UAE’s overall success over the recent year and raises the ceiling of the dreams of Emirati youth, on whom the wise leadership are depending to achieve the country’s overall development and continue the legacy of the late Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

The most important message conveyed by the announcement is that the two astronauts represent all Arab youths, who are capable of shaping a prosperous future for the Arab region under suitable conditions. As the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said, the sky is the limit to human ambitions.

This achievement carries another clear message, which is reflected by the words of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, when he said that the Emirati people have the perseverance and determination to reach the highest positions, confirming that there are no limits to their ambitions to achieve more for the country.

The move is part of a space programme launched by the country in 2017 that includes an ambitious national strategy that aims to explore space, according to a plan that will extend for around a century and involves training Emirati astronauts, building a satellite complex, travelling to Mars with the Hope Probe in 2021, and establishing a community on the red planet by 2117.

The specialist monitoring of many global organisations shows that the ambitious plan of the "UAE Space Programme" will have a positive effect on the national economy in the coming years, through achieving successes that will help realise the country’s strategic goal of creating an economy based on knowledge and innovation.

The achievement also confirms the country’s capacity to provide new scientific contributions to humanity, through sending Emirati astronauts to join a team of scientists at the space station in April.