Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Will Fly 100,000 Postcards From UAE Students To Space

UAE's first astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri Sultan Al Neyadi during a surprise visit to the school. (Source: Beam Education via The National News)

JAKARTA - Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin will fly 100,000 postcards written by United Arab Emirates (UAE) schoolchildren into space and return them to them with the 'fly into space' stamp.

To celebrate the UAE's Golden Jubilee, children drew their visions for the next 50 years of the rich country on postcards. This includes futuristic cars, going to the Moon, landing on Mars to planting national flags on other planets.

The New Shepard suborbital flight by the billionaire space tourism company Amazon founder, plans to take the images of the children into space next year.

The non-profit Club for the Future Blue Origin has been flying postcards written by students around the world since 2019, using its reusable launch vehicle.

Now, the Emirates Post Group, Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, UAE Space Agency, and AzurX, a Dubai-based innovation and strategy company supporting space sector opportunities, are collaborating with the foundation to engage Emirates at scale.

"As the UAE and Blue Origin's regional representative, it is an honor to bring together the UAE government and international private entities, to initiate the Postcards to Space initiative on this important occasion of the UAE Jubilee, inspiring young people to think big and dare to look forward to the next 50 years of the nation from outer space," explained Anna Hazlett, founder of AzurX quoting The National News December 8.

Postcards to Space initiative program. (Source: Beam Education via The National News)

Among the participating schools are the International School of Creative Science in Muwaileh, in Sharjah, and the Al Mawakeb School in Al Garhoud, in Dubai.

UAE astronauts Hazza Al Mansouri, the first Emirati in space, and Sultan Al Neyadi make surprise visits to schools, while students decorate their postcards.

"We are working on a number of initiatives with our international partners to inspire future generations, building awareness around the space sector and the ecosystems around it that can and will likely be a part of future generations," said Hazlett.

"The future space career is our goal," he continued.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos announced the educational project in May 2019, saying it was designed to inspire young people and get them to think about a future in space.

For the first set of postcards, students in different parts of the world were asked to write down their dreams about the future.

Private space airlines flew them into space later that year, among other cargoes, and then shipped them back.

It's unclear whether the postcards by the UAE students will be flown on single or multiple flights, but a set will be sent on a space flight in 2022.

To note, Blue Origin, which has flown eight people into space, is establishing its presence in the UAE.

Meanwhile, AzurX is working closely with Blue Origin on its localization strategy. It will also assist customers with space tourism flights and opportunities on Orbital Reef, the private space station announced by Blue Origin.

In October, Blue Origin and the UAE Ministry of Economy agreed to develop a plan that would accelerate the ministry's ambitions for economic development through space activities, including space tourism.

On December 9, Blue Origin flew six more passengers into space, including Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of America's first astronaut Alan Shepard and former American football star Michael Strahan.