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Last year, Sara Sabry she made history when she became the first Egyptian, the first Arab woman and the first African woman in space.
With a background in engineering and bioastronomy, she was selected by the non-profit Space for Humanity to join five other space tourists aboard the Blue Origin NS-22 suborbital space flight in August 2022.
Now doing a Ph.D. in aerospace sciences at the University of North Dakota, the 30-year-old says she realized there are few opportunities in space research if you’re not from the West.” In response, she founded the Deep Space Initiative, a Colorado-based non-profit company that aims to increase access to the space industry for people of all backgrounds, by providing research and educational opportunities.
CNN spoke with Sabry at the Dubai Airshow last week to learn more about her experience going to space, and why she started the Deep Space Initiative.
The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
CNN: How did you feel when you heard you were chosen to go to space?
Sabry: I received the call on the anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, 50 years since the first men landed on the moon, so it’s a very special day for me. Coming from where I come from, and always thinking it was impossible, it was hard to process, but it’s something I have a lot of responsibility for.
CNN: How did you feel when you quit?
Sabry: It’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever had. When you take off, you feel this engine burning below you, and very quickly, the sky turns from light blue to dark blue to purple and then black, and that’s the only thing that tells you that you are in space. It was beautiful and I was surprised. I think it’s the most liberating feeling anyone can experience.
CNN: What did you feel when you saw the Earth from space for the first time?
Sabry: It was very confusing, because we are not biologically evolved to see the Earth from space. We have a tendency to look at space as if it is so far away and separate from Earth but it is not. I think I understand that when it clicks, it shatters your reality, and changes your understanding of the world. For me personally, it has changed a lot more than I thought it would in terms of the scale of the world and how interconnected everything is.
CNN: Why did you establish the Deep Space Initiative?
Sabry: The more I was involved in the space field, the more problems I saw, and there are very few opportunities if you are not from the West, if you are not a US citizen or if you are not European. My company allows people of different nationalities to work on these problems from different perspectives. Currently, we have about 205 people from 28 different nationalities working on 53 space projects, which is really cool to see.
CNN: What have you achieved in your company so far?
Sabry: The Deep Space Initiative runs a number of research programs, and it’s exciting to see the quality of work coming from these groups that wouldn’t have the opportunity to work on this. They are extremely intelligent, extremely qualified people to be doing this research, but you can see how they wanted this opportunity. They just needed someone to believe in them. I hope that this initiative provides this faith to many more people around the world.
CNN: Why is representation and accessibility in space so important?
Sabry: By limiting the opportunities available to people of certain nationalities, we are also limiting the number of problems we can solve, and the progress we can make in a specific area. When it comes to representation, it shows that you can do anything. I didn’t dream about being an astronaut as a child because I wasn’t exposed to it, and we were always told it wasn’t for us. When representation says “someone else has done this, and you can too.”
CNN: What does it mean to you to be the first Egyptian, African and Arab woman to go to space?
Sabry: When I was sitting in that rocket, I wasn’t just flying to space, I was taking my country and my continent with me. It felt like a step forward, not just for me personally but for many others. For them to be able to have that representation, to see that things are possible even though we are told they are not. I wake up every morning and make all my decisions to serve that purpose. I have dedicated my life to this mission.
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