Careers

Early Life

Padma grew up in India. She loved space and science even as a child. She'd look at the night sky with her parents, and her dad would tell her stories about the stars they could see. Padma wondered what other cultures might say about those same stars. Would their stories be different to the ones she heard? It made her curious about the sky above.

Early Life

Mishaal Ashemimry was born in the US in 1984. She spent a few years of her early life in Saudi. It was here that her interest in space began. At age 6, she felt inspired while gazing at the stars in the Unaizah desert. To feed her curiosity, she decided to learn how to build rockets so she could go to space one day. 

Ashemimry has two bachelor's degrees. One is in aerospace engineering, and the other is in applied maths. She has also earned her master's in aerospace engineering. NASA has funded her research.

Early Life

Maram Kaire was born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1978. Since he was 12, he has been interested in astronomy. He read books about space and even built a telescope at the age of 14! At the time, astronomy was not popular in Senegal. 

There weren't many jobs or courses in the field. His parents did not want him to study space, so he chose computer science instead. Later, he moved to France to study Systems and Network Engineering. After that, he returned to Senegal to inspire his country's interest in space.

Early Life

Joyful Mdhluli grew up in Mpumalanga, South Africa. She is proud to be the first person in her family to attend university. Joyful earned her Bachelor's, Master's and PhD degrees from the University of Witwatersrand. 

At first, she wasn't sure if she wanted to become a physicist. But, during her Master's studies, she realised that a career in physics would help her reach her full potential.

Early Life

Sara Sabry was a curious child, and she has always loved space. She earned her degree in Cairo, where she grew up. Her degree is in Mechanical Engineering, with a focus on Mechatronics. 

After this, she did her Master's in Biomedical Engineering, and she earned this in Italy. At present, Sabry is doing her PhD in Aerospace Sciences. Her PhD is at the UND NASA funded Human Spaceflight lab!

Early Life

By the age of 23, Amira had achieved her bachelor's and master's degrees. They were both gained in the Space Science Field at Helwan University, Egypt. Her projects included studying space weather, the Earth's upper atmosphere and computer programming. 

Once she had graduated, Amira then spent a year at Helwan University working as a teaching assistant.

Early Life

Farouk El-Baz was born in 1938 in Zagazig. In school, he liked science. He earned his bachelor's degree in Chemistry-Geology in 1958 in Egypt. In 1961, he got his master's in geology. 

After this, in 1964, he got his PhD also in geology. During his PhD, he did research at MIT. When he was a child, he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he touched the Black Stone. This made him come up with the idea of touchable moon rocks at museums.