Egyptian Space Agency deliberates on Roscosmos proposal to train the Nation’s first Cosmonaut

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The Egyptian government considers the proposition by Russian state space agency, Roscosmos to train the principal Egyptian cosmonaut in Russia, Egyptian Space Agency (EgSA) CEO Mohamed ElKoosy told Sputnik on Tuesday.

The EgSA’s CEO also appreciates Moscow and Cairo’s cooperation in launching Egyptian communication satellites into space.

“There is likewise a decent proposition from Roscosmos to prepare an Egyptian cosmonaut. We have completed the essential exploration on this issue, and the EgSA will send its findings to the authorities for endorsement. At that point, we can declare it,” ElKoosy said.

The Egyptian government affirmed in 2016 a bill targeting setting up a national space agency educated to build up a program to make the country’s whole space industry over the short and medium-term.

Under the Egyptian authority’s arrangements, the nation won’t just create and deliver satellites and space-based systems and assemble and launch them into orbit locally.

Last October, ElKoosy revealed to Sputnik that Egypt’s space program’s advancement had been slowed down for four months because of the Covid pandemic, with plans to prepare the first Egyptian cosmonaut and get entries from potential candidates was also stalled. The CEO confirmed that the agency would rapidly deal with this deferral so it would not affect the complete advancement of the nation’s space projects.