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Podcast: Middle East Dossier
Episode: Hope & an Eye on the Future: The UAE’s Space Sector
Description: The launch of the Hope probe in July 2020 made the United Arab Emirates the first Arab nation to undertake inter-planetary exploration. The unmanned spacecraft has been in orbit around Mars since February 2021, and reports have it that the mission is now studying the moons of the Red Planet. The UAE’s space agenda does not stop there: Sultan Al Neyadi, now a cult figure in Emirati society, became the first Arab astronaut to go on a long-term mission to the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this year. More recently, in April, he concluded a historic seven-hour-long spacewalk.
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