DUBAI, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Alfred (Al) Worden, the former Command Pilot for the Apollo 15 lunar mission in 1971, said the space program of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an important scheme to inspire young Emirati nationals to work outside the oil industry and to prepare the country for the post-oil era.
Al Worden made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua at the ongoing Dubai Airshow, referring to the 2014- launched space program of the UAE.
Al Worden, 85, who calls Jackson, U.S. federal state of Michigan, his home town, said "I was born and raised on a small farm and went to college, which was not self-evident at that time."
This is the first lesson what Worden said he tells young Emirati nationals when he delivers presentations at UAE schools, colleges and universities, "that anybody who has the desire and works hard can go to college."
Retired U.S. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) pilot Worden, who is one of the 24 people ever flew to the moon and who spent three days alone orbiting the moon, making him the most isolated human ever, described his mission nowadays as "to help the host country UAE, a major oil supplier, to prepare for the post-oil time."
The UAE Space Program, established in 2014, aims to send an unmanned probe to Mars by 2021 and to expand the Gulf state's non-oil sector which has a share of 71 percent of the country's economy, the highest of all Arab Gulf states.
According to UAE Minister of Economy Sultan Al-Mansouri, the UAE aims to reduce the hydro-carbon share from 29 percent to 19 percent within five to ten years.
"Before joining the U.S. pavilion at the Dubai Airshow to promote the U.S. space program, I spoke to Emirati nationals at schools in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi and my aim is to excite them," he said.
The reactions and questions by the students were "very positive," said Worden, "which is important, because this is an oil-rich country which in the future will need more engineers, scientists and space and aviation specialists. Math science and space technology are important areas for the UAE as it aims to diversify its economy."
Worden teaches Emirati boys and girls that "any setback is an opportunity to do something better." He recalled that "after the Apollo 15 mission, there was no possibility to become a command pilot again," so he became a Senior Aerospace Scientist. "At first I was very disappointed, but then I appreciated and loved for what I was doing," said Worden.
NASA prevented the Apollo 15 mission crew from being part of further missions after it was revealed that the astronauts took photo shots of the earth planet from space and sold them to a German stamp producer, albeit the actions did not breach U.S. law.
Worden, who logged a total of 295 hours and 11 minutes in orbit and who also conducted the first spacewalk in deep space, said "I think the UAE has some very ambitious program in space, so I can imagine an Emirati national in space soon."
The author of the book "Falling to earth: An Apollo 15 Astronaut's Journey to the Moon" recalled "the positive reactions in the U.S. when Saudi Prince Sultan Bin Salman Al-Saud joined NASA and who flew aboard the U.S. STS-51-G Space Shuttle mission as a pilot in 1985 at age 28, until today the youngest human who ever flew the Space Shuttle."
Prince Sultan Bin Salman, who is today 61, is a son of Saudi Arabia's today's ruling King Salman, and he was the first Arab and Muslim in space. Today, he is the President and Chairman of the Board of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Hospitality.
"I think Prince Sultan's Nasa mission helped to bridge a lot of diplomatic issues. We think of space missions as U.S. missions, but a significant share of the crews were foreigners."
Three West German astronauts flew to space on a NASA research mission in 1985 which marked at that time NASA's first spacelab mission under German command.
Earlier last week, the UAE Space Program in Abu Dhabi signed a memorandum of understanding with the German Aerospace Center in order to cooperate in space science, research, technology and regulation.
The 15th edition of the biennial Dubai Airshow which kicked off in Sunday runs through Thursday.
