A group of Emirati students are spending their vacation learning all they can from Nasa about the intricacies of space training and aeronautic engineering. The fourth mission, made up of 26 Emirati students from the Institute of Applied Technology’s IAT High Schools, began advanced practical training at Nasa’s Space Centre in Houston, on Thursday.
The fourth mission will focus on aeronautic engineering and space training which complies with the curricula followed in the high schools of the institute. Students had been selected for their academic standard and efficiency, to ensure all participants would fully benefit from the extensive programme, and meet the school’s ambitions to create competent and specialised local cadres in this vital area, IAT High School principal Ken Cadd said.
Students had completed several work sessions before they departed to familiarise themselves with the training programme, and the trainees had reacted positively so far, he said. The mission left the country this week, bringing the number of students who had undergone training in Nasa to 110 male and female students, in one year. “Eighty-four students, of whom 28 per cent are girls, had actually benefited from the programme, which is being conducted in collaboration with the dedicated Space Adventures.”
Space Adventures CEO Hussein Al Ansari expressed delight over the rush of students to take part in what he termed as a scientific tour in the field of science and space technology. The students, meanwhile, were happy to join the programme, and stressed their keen interest in creditably representing the country in a civilised manner. Ken Cadd said the higher management at the Institute of Applied Technology had worked hard to provide all technical and material potential and resources to guarantee that students achieved all the objectives of the overseas missions, which forms part of the work curricula in applied technology. The mission to Nasa has been accompanied by two supervisors, who worked to ensure the security and safety of the students, provide support and ensure the programme was implemented in a way that achieved its objectives, he said.
