The UAE purchased the seat on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
through a private Houston-based company, Axiom Space, a space tour operator
that has been leading efforts to commercialise the industry. The mission is
scheduled for launch next year from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This will mark the UAE's second time sending an astronaut
into space. In 2019, Maj. Hazzaa al-Mansoori spent an eight-day mission aboard
the International Space Station. The UAE statement did not identify the
astronaut picked for the 2023 mission.
The statement also did not say how much the country paid for
the prized seat on the rocket built by Elon Musk's SpaceX. Axiom's ticket price
for wealthy citizens who paid their way to the International Space Station
earlier this month was $55 million apiece for the rocket ride and
accommodations.
Friday's announcement is part of a flurry of activity in the
UAE's space programme. Last year, the UAE put its Amal, or Hope, satellite in
orbit around Mars, a first for the Arab world. In 2024, the country hopes to
put an unmanned spacecraft on the moon.
The UAE also has set the ambitious goal of building a human
colony on Mars by 2117.
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