Space For Humanity Will Send First Egyptian to Space Aboard Blue Origin’s NS-22 Flight (Image Credit: Payload)
DENVER, July 22, 2022 (Space for Humanity PR) — Today, Space For Humanity (S4H), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, announced its selection committee has chosen Sara Sabry to become the organization’s second sponsored Citizen Astronaut. Sara will become the first Egyptian to fly to space when she flies aboard Blue Origin’s NS-22 flight.
Sara, 29, is an Egyptian mechanical and biomedical engineer and founder of Deep Space Initiative (DSI), a nonprofit which aims to increase accessibility for space research. Sara became Egypt’s first female analog astronaut in 2021, when she was selected to complete a two week analog Moon mission, which simulated the extreme conditions astronauts experience in Space. She will join five other crew members including Coby Cotton, Mario Ferreira, Vanessa O’Brien, Clint Kelly III, and Steve Young aboard New Shepard to experience the cognitive shift of the Overview Effect and incorporate that new found perspective into a social impact project with the support of S4H’s Citizen Astronaut Program (CAP).
“When we dare to dream big, we achieve things deemed impossible, we break boundaries, write history, and set new challenges for the future,” said Sabry. “I am incredibly excited that Space For Humanity has offered me this opportunity and I am honored to be representing Egypt in Space for the first time. My ancestors have always dreamt big and achieved the impossible, and I hope to bring that back. This is just the beginning.”
Sara earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in biology, chemistry, and pre-med at the American University in Cairo, going on to earn a master’s in biomedical engineering from the Politecnico di Milano. She is now pursuing a PhD in aerospace sciences with a focus on space suit design. Fluent in Arabic, French, and English, Sara grew up in Cairo and currently resides in Berlin. She shared that kids in the Western world grew up watching rocket launches, but children in the Arab world were mostly unaware of these exploits, which is why she is co-founding the Space Ambassadorship Program with the Egyptian Space Agency, to shed light on the important research opportunities and potential to benefit life on Earth.
“Many Egyptians have lost hope in our future and my hope is that by going to space, I can contribute to changing that; to bring hope to people, and to make them proud of where they come from,” added Sabry. “I believe that sharing my experience with the world will motivate the younger generation of Egyptians to pursue education and help change the perception of women, showing the world what we are truly capable of.”
Sara is the second beneficiary of S4H’s Citizen Astronaut Program, which sponsors exceptional candidates to experience the Overview Effect and then employ that new perspective to solve some of humanity’s most difficult challenges.
S4H has partnered with Paragon, a strategic advisory group focused on conscious leadership development programs that shift perspective, to design and implement the first-ever training program built specifically for the Overview Effect. Citizen Astronauts participate in training modules designed to optimize their ability to navigate the Overview Effect experience, fully integrate that experience, and equip them to live and lead from an Overview Perspective.
“In order to address the challenges that we face on a global scale, we need to look at the Earth as the complex, interconnected system that it is,” said Rachel Lyons, Executive Director of Space For Humanity. “One of the most powerful ways to generate that perspective is through the Overview Effect and viewing our planet from afar. We believe space is a tool for transformation, so we’re dedicated to giving as many people access to this experience as possible. Congratulations to Sara on being selected for this life-changing adventure, we know she will be an incredible ambassador for our mission and look forward to seeing how she uses this opportunity to change the world.”
S4H sent its first citizen astronaut, Katya Echazarreta, to Space aboard NS-21 on June 4, 2022. Katya is completing the third and final Application phase of the Citizen Astronaut Program, designing a “Life and Leadership Agreement” that outlines how she will continue to integrate and apply the value of the Overview Effect to her leadership role and humanitarian initiatives.
About Space for Humanity
Space for Humanity is expanding access to space for all of humanity. The nonprofit created the planet’s first Sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program, giving leaders, from any walk of life, the opportunity to apply to go to space and experience the Overview Effect: the cognitive shift in awareness that occurs when a human being looks down on the Earth from space.
Through its citizen spaceflight program, leadership training, and collaborative efforts to educate the public, Space for Humanity is setting the stage to create the world we want, both here on Earth and throughout the cosmos. For more information, please visit www.spaceforhumanity.org
