Excerpt:

>US aerospace company Boeing said it has held discussions with Emirates officials about the UAE providing an airlock module on the Lunar Gateway.

>This is an airtight room that astronauts would use to enter and exit the space station.

>John Mulholland, vice president and International Space Station programme manager at Boeing, told The National that the company was “actively working” with the UAE on the concept and design.

>The Lunar Gateway falls under Nasa’s Artemis programme, which aims to put humans back on the Moon’s surface this decade.

>“One of the things that the UAE is working on is the evaluation of whether they are going to put up an airlock module on the Gateway, which would be outstanding,” said Mr Mulholland at the Abu Dhabi Space Debate.

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>There is no agreement that has been signed between the UAE and Boeing yet on the project, and Mr Mulholland said that the country was still evaluating.

>However, Sean Fuller, international partner manager on the Gateway programme, said on Monday that an announcement would be made in a couple of months.

>He said that Nasa was in “active negotiations” with a potential new partner to contribute to an airlock module, according to a tweet by space journalist Jeff Foust.

>The UAE has been exploring ways of becoming involved in the Artemis programme.

>The Emirates is one of the signatories of the Artemis Accords, a set of US-led international agreements that outline the responsible exploration of the Moon and beyond.

Sarwat Nasir, 13 December 2022, The National (International Media Investments)