Sun 14 August 2022:
Tunisia stated on Saturday that it is prepared to send its first astronaut to the International Space Station by naming the shortlisted applicants, one of whom will be chosen for the role, which is scheduled to take place next year, AlAaraby reported.
The astronaut will be chosen from a pool of eight female nominees, all of whom are fighter pilot graduates of the Borj El-Amri aviation school, making them the first Tunisian and African astronauts to enter orbit.
🇹🇳 🧑🏻🚀 | La #Tunisie a annoncé, samedi, la liste des candidates, dont l’une sera choisie pour être la première astronaute du pays à participer, en 2024, à une mission à bord de la Station spatiale internationale.#women #empoweredwomen pic.twitter.com/s3xYwVEZ3H
— strategika🌍 #stopwar #peace (@Artmant) August 14, 2022
The Tunisian Telnat group announced the candidates’ names during a special ceremony on Saturday, coinciding with the 66th commemoration of Women’s Day, which is celebrated in the North African country on 13 August.
Among those names are: Hala Awassa, Ibtihal Youssef, Wafa El-Baldi-El-Yomna Dalali, Olfa Lajnef, Rahma Trabelsi, Hind Safferi and Malika Mabrouk.
The nominees expressed their desire to take up this ‘historic’ challenge and to hoist the Tunisian national flag at the International Space Station, as well as contributing to the country’s scientific advances.
The candidates were shortlisted on the basis of physical and psychological criteria, among other strict benchmarks.
Mohamed Frikha, the Director General of Telnet told the Turkish Anadolu agency that the candidates will “soon undergo extensive medical and physical tests” both in Tunisia and abroad, before selecting two candidates who will then “go to Russia where they will take part in specific training in the Russian Space Agency’s training centres for one year”.
“One candidate will then be chosen to complete the mission in 2024 in the field of physics and medicine, which will last 10 days,” he added.
