Sara Sabry presents “Why and how I got selected to go to space, and all the details of the experience: astronaut training, mental preparation, sitting on a rocket, seeing Earth from space, capsule touchdown, and integrating into a new reality.”
On August 4th, 2022 – Sara Sabry launched to space on Blue Origin‘s New Shepard rocket (NS-22) and became the first Egyptian Astronaut, and the first African woman and first Arab woman to reach space. Sabry was selected by Space for Humanity to go on a mission to experience the Overview Effect, and bring that back to Earth.
Sabry was selected as the world’s second Citizen Astronaut out of thousands of applicants from all over the world, and her seat to space was fully sponsored by both Space for Humanity and Blue Origin.
In early 2021, Sabry became Egypt’s first female Analog Astronaut after completing a 2-week moon mission simulation at LUNARES in Poland as the crew medical officer. As part of her astronaut training, she successfully completed the IIAS scientist-astronaut training program – a suborbital research qualification program – adding to her list of firsts and making her the first Egyptian woman trained and qualified to do research in space.