At the end of October, Russia and the United Arab Emirates signed an agreement on the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. This is not the first Russian-Emirati accord dedicated to the space sector. In 2018, Roscosmos struck an agreement with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center allowing for the preparation and flight of the first UAE cosmonaut to the International Space Station. Finally in 2019, Roscosmos, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and investors from the UAE concluded a deal on the reconstruction of the Gagarin's Start, the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome that sent the pilot-cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space on April 12, 1961.
The quantity of agreements creates an impression of extremely close cooperation between Russia and the UAE in the field of space exploration. In Moscow, this narrative is actively promulgated by pro-government publications. Russian media draws attention to the military pilot Hazza Al Mansouri, who underwent a year's preparing at Yu. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center and visited the ISS as a space flight participant aboard the Soyuz MS-15 in September 2019.
Over the past two decades, the UAE has truly made some dramatic strides in the field of astronautics. Since the adoption of the space program in 2006, the Emirates launched a nationally assembled satellite, started the long-term Mars 2117 program, sent the first astronaut to the ISS and launched the Al-Amal probe into Mars orbit in February 2021. Given such ambitious pace, Abu Dhabi’s choice of partners is of great importance. That said, prospects of cooperation with Russia are not so rosy as it may appear at first sight.
A year after sending first UAE astronaut to the ISS, the Emirates chose NASA to continue the further training of their astronauts. A prospect of cooperation with Roscosmos in the field of cosmonaut training lives on, but this will depend on the operating life of the ISS and its national segments. The problem, though, is that with the end of the ISS, Russian manned space exploration will be interrupted for at least a decade with unclear prospects for reopening.
AL-MONITOR All-Access gives you unlimited access to all our journalism, the full Daily Briefing, exclusive interviews, premium newsletters, and live events — for less than $2/week.
