The United Arab Emirates has called the next two astronauts in its own space program, including the country’s first female astronaut

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates called the subsequent two astronauts in its own area plan Saturday, including the nation’s first female astronaut.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai who also functions as the autocratically ruled nation’s prime minister and vice president, called the two astronauts on Twitter.

He recognized Noura al-Matroushi since the UAE’s first female astronaut, together with her male counterpart as Mohammed al-Mulla.

A later authorities promotional movie explained al-Matroushi, born in 1993, as a scientist in the Abu Dhabi-based National Petroleum Construction Co..

Al-Mulla, born in 1988, acts as a pilot with Dubai authorities and heads their training branch, the authorities said.

Both had been chosen among over 4,000 applicants at the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula that is also home to Abu Dhabi.

Both will experience training in NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

In case al-Matroushi ends up going on a mission, she would become the first Arab woman in area, the UAE authorities said.

Anousheh Raissyan, an Iranian-American telecommunications entrepreneur and millionaire from Dallas, became the first Muslim woman and first Iranian in distance after she traveled as a self-funded civilian into the International Space Station in 2006. She paid $20 million to travel there as a touristdestination.

The Emirates has other recent victories in its own space program. In 2024, the nation expects to place an unmanned spacecraft on the moon.

The UAE also has set the ambitious aim of constructing a human colony on Mars from 2117.