Hazza Al Mansouri has hailed a pair of fellow astronauts for floating into the record books - by embarking on the first all-female spacewalk.
Maj Al Mansouri, who carved out his own place in history by becoming the UAE's maiden astronaut, marked a 'special day' by lauding the achievements of Christina Koch and Jessica Meir, who was a crew mate on his own recent journey to the International Space Station.
The Nasa astronauts ventured out of the ISS at about 3.50pm on Friday (UAE time) to replace a power controller that failed during the weekend.
The mission is expected to take several hours to complete.
Maj Al Mansouri said the milestone spacewalk was an 'historic achievement'.
The occasion is momentous because, although it is the 221st spacewalk performed by astronauts aboard the ISS, Ms Meir will become only the 15th woman in history to carry out the duty, with Ms Koch having accomplished the task previously.
Nasa has stated its intention to put the first woman on the Moon by 2024.
Employment lawyer Meriel Schindler of Withers Worldwide shares her tips on achieving equal pay
Do your homework
Make sure that you are being offered a fair salary. There is lots of industry data available, and you can always talk to people who have come out of the organisation. Where I see people coming a cropper is where they haven’t done their homework.
Don’t be afraid to negotiate
It’s quite standard to negotiate if you think an offer is on the low side. The job is unlikely to be withdrawn if you ask for money, and if that did happen I’d question whether you want to work for an employer who is so hypersensitive.
Know your worth
Women tend to be a bit more reticent to talk about their achievements. In my experience they need to have more confidence in their own abilities – men will big up what they’ve done to get a pay rise, and to compete women need to turn up the volume.
Work together
If you suspect men in your organisation are being paid more, look your boss in the eye and say, “I want you to assure me that I’m paid equivalent to my peers”. If you’re not getting a straight answer, talk to your peer group and consider taking direct action to fix inequality.
Crops that could be introduced to the UAE
1: Quinoa
2. Bathua
3. Amaranth
4. Pearl and finger millet
5. Sorghum
