The UAE is collaborating with NASA on the Gateway project, the world’s first space station to orbit the Moon and fly a UAE astronaut to Gateway in a future Artemis mission.

Gateway will support sustained exploration and research in deep space and provide a home for astronauts to live and work, including a staging point for lunar surface missions and an opportunity to conduct spacewalks while orbiting the Moon.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) will provide Gateway’s Crew and Science Airlock module. Once completed, the airlock will be launched on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket.

In addition to operating the airlock, MBRSC will provide engineering support for the life of the lunar space station. The airlock will allow crew and science research transfers to and from the habitable environment of Gateway’s pressurized crew modules to the vacuum of space.

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan wrote on X, “I was pleased to attend with my brother Mohammed bin Rashid the launch of the UAE’s contributions to the historic Lunar Gateway, which will serve as humanity’s first space station around the Moon. Through our long-term investment in space exploration and scientific innovation, the UAE is determined to work alongside its international partners to enable collective progress for all.”

The partnership aligns with NASA’s Artemis program, which seeks to establish a sustainable presence on the Moon for humans, using the Lunar Gateway for the program’s missions.

“This is something new that the UAE is embarking on. There’s a lot of knowledge that we have but not necessarily knowledge to build something like an airlock. What we plan to do is work with the international companies – we haven’t decided who yet – and work as we always do, which is to try to get the UAE industry involved,” said Salem Al Marri, director general of MBRSC.

NASA administrator Senator Bill Nelson also took to X, stating, “This is an exciting moment for international collaboration in the cosmos and the future of human space exploration.”

Nelson added that the UAE’s provision of the airlock to Gateway will allow astronauts to conduct groundbreaking science in deep space and prepare to send humanity to Mars one day.

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