Nora AlMatrooshi Becomes the First Emirati Hijabi to Graduate from NASA Astronaut Program

SEAToday.com, Houston - Nora AlMatrooshi, 31, from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) just became the first Arab hijabi to graduate from NASA’s astronaut training programme.

The graduation ceremony took place on Tuesday (3/5) where AlMatrooshi and 11 other candidates earned their place for a further journey–into outer space. They were selected back in 2021 to complete a two-year training program in NASA’s Artemis missions which aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon and onto the next giant leap: to Mars.

AlMatrooshi herself was grateful for the opportunity and encouraged all girls to become astronauts or scientists. "The fact that I was selected to be part of the program I think is enough of an encouragement to all girls who want to enter the space field to go ahead and enter," she said.

She also shared how becoming an astronaut is hard regardless of religion, but she expressed her gratitude on how NASA had helped set up a hijab in her spacesuit. She also explained how they managed to incorporate the hijab into her spacesuit.

“The material that goes into the EMU suit (spacesuit) has to be a very specific material. So the suit engineers ended up sewing a makeshift hijab for me to wear. I could put it on, get into the suit, and then put on the comm. cap, and then take it off, and my hair would be covered,” she explained.