The Star Sailor
Meet Nora Al Matrooshi, a 30-year-old mechanical engineer from the United Arab Emirates who is the first female Emirati astronaut, and hopes to join an international league of only 65 women who have been in space.
Nora comes from a family of sailors on her mother’s side, and she is quick to point out that the word "astronaut" is derived from two Greek words: those for "star" and "sailor."
She was a curious child, wired for adventure, and when she was five, her kindergarten teacher sat her class under a black tent, wearing their handmade astronaut helmets, and asked them to imagine they were on a rocket ship headed to the moon. Nora’s imagination was captured, and she decided in that moment to become an astronaut so she could see what the surface of the moon was like for herself.
Despite there being no space program in her country at the time and few female role models, she was driven by the power of childhood possibilities. Even as she grew up and realised the odds were stacked against her, Nora refused to let go of her dream. After excelling in school, she chose to study mechanical engineering at UAE University because they had an internship program with NASA.
Nora worked as an engineer in different fields for years, until the opportunity she’d been preparing for finally arrived. In 2014, the UAE established its Space Agency and in 2018 recruitment began for the first batch of Emirati astronauts to fly to the International Space Station.
Although Nora missed out on the first round, applications for a second batch opened less than a year later, and in April 2021, she was one of two astronauts selected to train with “NASA Astronaut Group 23” at the Johnson Space Centre in Texas so she can one day work as an international mission specialist.
Although she is yet to complete her first mission in space, Nora’s making the most of her time on earth inspiring young women around the world and reinvigorating humanity’s hunger for exploration and mystery-solving.
“If I can do it then you can do it too. And if no one has done it yet, then you just go ahead and be the first because if you have the ambition and drive you will find opportunities everywhere at any time.”
