NASA and the United Arab Emirates’ Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) on Sunday announced plans for the latter to provide an airlock for Gateway, which is set to be humanity’s first space station that will orbit the Moon.
The Gateway lunar space station will support all NASA’s future missions to the Moon with the Artemis programme and further beyond.
“As chair of the National Space Council, I have made it a priority to enhance international cooperation in space. Today’s announcement and partnership between the United States and United Arab Emirates advances this important work. By combining our resources, scientific capacity, and technical skill, the U.S. and UAE will further our collective vision for space and ensure it presents extraordinary opportunities for everyone here on Earth,” said Vice President Kamala Harris in a press statement.
The United States and the United Arab Emirates are expanding their human spaceflight collaboration through Gateway. MBRSC will provide Gateway’s Crew and Science Airlock module, and it will also provide a UAE astronaut to fly to the lunar space station on a future Artemis mission under the new arrangement.
Not only will MBRSC operate the airlock but it will also provide engineering support for the life of the lunar space station. Its airlock will allow crew and science research transfers to and from Gateway’s pressurised crew modules, a habitable environment, to the vacuum of space.
The Gateway space station is designed to help humanity establish a sustained presence in and around the Moon. It is a place for astronauts to live and work and will also be a staging point for future missions to the Moon and beyond.
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First uploaded on: 11-01-2024 at 12:59 IST
