Where UAE'S rocket dreams take off

A visionary school founder and a former NASA astronaut are reshaping how young minds in the UAE imagine their future beyond Earth

- by ASHAIYERKUMAR

What if you are told that you can touch Mars while you are in the UAE?

As incredible as it sounds, we can vouch for it. This writer has held a tiny piece of Martian rock in her hand at the Space and Rocketry Academy (SARA), UAE. So have scores of students whose gaze is already fixed on the sky and beyond. It's a piece of asteroid that flew in and landed somewhere in Africa, and found its way to SARA’s closet. No adjective can truly capture the emotion of holding a fragment of what we now believe might one day be humanity’s second home.

In a metaphorical sense, it symbolises the UAE’s own astronomical aspiration and its verisimilitude. From a certain vantage point, this validates a monumental shift in what the present generation in the UAE believe they can accomplish in the ether. Hundreds of young people are preparing to follow in the footsteps of Sultan Saif Al Neyadi and Hazzaa Al Mansoori. What once seemed like fantasy is now looking like a certain prospect. There is a quiet but powerful chronicle of space exploration unfolding in the academic corridors of the UAE. Children are waking up to a dream that once felt impossibly distant — the dream of exploring space. They are beginning to see once-unknown frontiers as destinations within reach. The sky is no more their limit, thanks to the exposure they are receiving at SARA, UAE.

A NEW KIND OF CLASSROOM

Bolstering these outlandish dreams sparked by founder of SARA, Lissy Donald, is Dr Don Thomas, a former NASA astronaut who has been to space four times. His collaboration with SARA has brought several students in touch with the real-life stories and challenges of being an astronaut. He has shared with them nuggets and big-picture insights into what it takes to be on space missions that can change the face of humanity.