Palestinian-American NASA chief Nujoud Fahoum Merancy is playing a crucial role in the American space programme’s attempt to return to the moon in 2024.
Fahoum Merancy is NASA’s Chief of Exploration Mission Planning, and is one of the leads on the Artemis programme that will send people back to the moon for the first time in 50 years.
“Artemis will put the first woman and person of colour on the moon, and it’s, to me, very special to be a part of that because we actually get to represent humanity,” she told NowThis.
Some media outlets had wrongfully claimed that Fahoum Merancy would be the astronaut on the moon. She debunked the claims in a tweet saying: “I am not the leader of the entire Artemis program nor an astronaut myself. Please fact check!”
Dozens of users on Twitter are celebrating Fahoum Merancy's achievements and her Palestinian roots.
Loureen Sayej tweeted "A Palestinian woman is putting humans back on the moon. Proud and inspired. Palestinian women to the front always. #YallaToTheMoon," while others, such as Rami Al-Kabra, tweeted "#YallaToTheMoon is the best hashtag ever!"
On Monday, NASA announced a delay to the debut flight of Artemis-1 after discovering an engine-related problem. The rocket could instead take off on Friday, according to reports.
This first mission calls for a six-week, uncrewed test flight of the human-grade rocket around the moon and back to Earth.
The planned journey will mark the kickoff of NASA's highly vaunted Artemis program, the successor to the Apollo lunar missions of the 1960s and '70s. During the nine Apollo missions, NASA sent 24 astronauts to the moon, 12 of whom had the opportunity to walk on the celestial object.
The space programme hopes to use the 2024 mission to the moon to plan future landings on Mars.
The New Arab has reached out to Nujoud Fahoum Merancy for comment.