An adventurer from Dubai who got a seat on Virgin Galactic Flight 17 years ago has shared her happiness as she is set to take off to the edge of space on October 5.

Namira Salim secured her ticket in 2006 earning her the title of Founder Astronaut. For that ticket, she paid $200,000, less than half the $450,000, which is the actual price for that seat now. 

The launch window for the Galactic 04 space tourism flight, the person who got the tickets earlier for the seats in the company, opens in less than two weeks. 

The Excitement

“The excitement is building. There’s a lot going on. I’m planning to arrive at the Spaceport America in New Mexico on September 30,” Ms Namira Salim told The National on Thursday.

“There’s a lot to prepare before I fly off … we’ve been having calls with our fellow astronauts and crew.

“These are the moments when we feel excited and motivated because we learn more about spaceflight and you’re going on a trip that is literally out of this world – and I’ve waited 17 years.”

The Expectations

They have informed us that the passengers can expect a 60 to 70-minute flight on Virgin Galactic. 

Then the mother ship carries the VSS unity spaceplane to an altitude high enough to be released and head to the space boundary. 

During this passengers will experience weightlessness in their body for four minutes before landing on a runaway in the desert. 

The most important thing is that Ms Salim is expected to be the first woman space tourist from the UAE if everything goes as planned.

And this will be Virgin Galactic’s fifth flight in only five months.

Training Part 

Ms Salim started going Gym to train her body. She received it many years ago and now she is so close to that moment. 

“We will have the preparations and three days of training before the flight at Spaceport America,” she said.

“It’s going to be pretty exciting because there’s some really interesting components and I’m really looking forward to them.

“And other than that, it’s bonding with the fellow astronauts and our crew members, and basically preparing for an experience of a lifetime and cherishing it.”

Space tourists often practised zero gravity simulator training. 

Along with Ms Salim, one American and British man will also join. Three crew members will be in the VSS unity spaceplane and two in the mothership. 

The Dream of Ms. Salim

From a young age, Salim had dreamt about what lies beyond the skies and she was also fascinated by that. 

“I was very little when I told my parents that I would go to space and I didn’t want to play with toys,” she said.

“My father was the one who first pointed [out] the Pole Star to me because he was in the Pakistani army and he knew the constellations of the night sky for navigational purposes and the moment he pointed it out, I fell in love with the stars.”

She has a hope that her father and mother will see her when she lifts into space. Because her mother died in 2007 and her father died in 2019.

Ms Salim has an adventurous spirit in her blood, she tried scuba diving in the Bahamas, trained as a pilot, travelled to the north and south poles, and carried out a tandem skydive from an altitude of nine kilometres in the world’s highest drop near Mount Everest. 

If everything goes as planned, Salim will become the second space tourist from the UAE and the first female space tourist.

Hamish Harding, one of the British billionaires who lived in Dubai became the first space tourist from the Emirates when he flew on Blue Origin’s Suborbital Rocket Last Year. He was also one of the passengers on the Titanic submersible that collapsed in the Atlantic Ocean this month, killing him and four others.