Space Adventures to Launch First UAE National from Ras Al-Khaimah Spaceport  

VIENNA, Virginia, March 30, 2006/Satnews Daily/ — Space Adventures, Ltd. has announced that Adnan Al Maimani will be the first United Arab Emirates (UAE) national to launch from the future commercial spaceport to be located at the Ras Al-Khaimah International Airport. 

The company, which organized orbital flights for all of the world's private space explorers, announced last month plans to locate a spaceport in the UAE that will be funded by various parties, along with shared investments by Space Adventures and the government of Ras Al-Khaimah. Space Adventures said Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, along with the UAE Department of Civilian Aviation, have granted clearance to operate suborbital spaceflights in their air space.

“We have received thousands of inquires from individuals in the Gulf region, specifically the UAE, who are interested in commercial spaceflight and want to fly,” said Eric Anderson, president and CEO of Space Adventures. “Mr. Al Maimani has a pioneering spirit and we are enthusiastic that he will be the first from the UAE to fly to space and that his historic flight will launch from his home country.”

The suborbital space transportation system has been designed by Myasishchev Design Bureau, a leading Russian aerospace organization which has developed a wide-array of high performance aircraft and space systems. Explorer, as it has been named, will have the capacity to transport up to five people to space and is designed to optimize the customer experience of space travel, while maintaining the highest degree of safety.  The system consists of a flight-operational carrier aircraft, the M-55X, and a rocket spacecraft. The vehicle is designed to optimize the customer experience of space travel.

Space Adventures offers orbital spaceflight missions to the International Space Station, commercial missions around the moon, Zero-Gravity and MiG flights, cosmonaut training, spaceflight qualification programs and reservations on future suborbital spacecrafts.

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