UAE launches space program to send 4 astronauts to ISS

Dubai’s ruler on Wednesday launched the United Arab Emirates’ first space program aimed at sending four Emirati astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) within five years, AFP said. “A new chapter in our history begins with the launch of the first UAE Astronaut Program,” within the next five years, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al-Maktoum, the UAE’s vice president and prime minister, said. The oil-rich Gulf nation has already announced plans to become the first Arab country to send an unmanned probe to orbit Mars by 2021.