UAE joins NASA’s lunar space station project with Artemis Gateway airlock

NASA and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have announced a new partnership to collaborate on Gateway. This first space station will orbit the Moon. The UAE will provide an airlock module for Gateway, enabling astronauts to conduct scientific and maintenance activities in the lunar vicinity.

Gateway is a key component of NASA’s , which aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon and prepare for future missions to Mars. The space station will serve as a home and staging point for astronauts and a platform for scientific research and exploration. In a press release, Vice President Kamala Harris, who chairs the National Space Council, praised the partnership as a milestone in international cooperation in space.

“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,” she said. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the partnership marks a historic moment for both nations and the future of human space exploration.

“We are in a new era of exploration through Artemis – strengthened by the peaceful and international exploration of space. The UAE’s provision of the airlock to Gateway will allow astronauts to conduct groundbreaking science in deep space and prepare to one day send humanity to Mars,” he said.

The airlock module, which MBRSC will provide under a new implementing arrangement with NASA, will allow crew and science research transfers to and from the habitable environment of Gateway’s pressurized crew modules to the vacuum of space. MBRSC will also provide engineering support for the life of the space station.

As part of the partnership, a UAE astronaut will fly to Gateway on a future Artemis mission, joining the most diverse and broad coalition of nations in human exploration in deep space. NASA is collaborating with the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on Gateway and other Artemis elements.

The partnership on Gateway builds on the previous human between NASA and the UAE. In 2019, Hazzaa Almansoori became the first Emirati to fly to space during a short mission to the International Space Station, where he performed experiments and educational outreach with NASA. In 2023, Sultan Al Neyadi became the second Emirati astronaut to visit the space station on NASA’s SpaceX Crew 6 mission, where he participated in scientific research that improves life on Earth.

The UAE has two more astronaut candidates training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. NASA and the UAE have also worked together on Mars research, human research, and analog studies to support mutual exploration priorities. In 2020, the US and the UAE were among the original signers of the Artemis Accords, a set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s 21st century lunar exploration program.

Through Artemis, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the Moon, paving the way for a long term lunar presence and serving as a stepping stone to send the first astronauts to Mars..