Three Egyptians have entered the final selection stage of the AXE Space Competition, reports Ahmed Morsy. Of the more than 650,000 applicants from 75 countries who signed up to AXE's Global Space Academy, hoping to be chosen for a once-in-a-lifetime trip into space, only 114, including the Egyptian trio, obtained a place at next month's week-long Space Camp in Florida. During the one-week camp 13 participants will be selected, based on competitive space-simulation exercises, for places on a flight with the international space agency Space Expedition Corporation (SXC). Egyptians Omar Samra, mountaineer, Ahmed “Haggagovic” Haggag, adventurer and traveller, and Ahmed Khaled, lawyer, won the only three regional tickets available to reach the final round of the competition. Like 650,000 others worldwide they signed up for the Space Academy by creating a profile on the competition's website saying why they should be chosen to travel into space. The trio gained the highest number of the regional votes to qualify for the challenge. Later they passed gravity and natural stamina tests to reach the final. Samra, the first Egyptian to climb Mount Everest, completed the Seven Summits Challenge in May 2013, climbing the highest mountains on all seven continents. “I believe that my wide-ranging adventure and expedition experience will allow me to deal well with the mental and physical challenges of space,” he said. “I have moved a step closer to my childhood dream to represent my country in space.” Haggagovic, a traveller who has raised the Egyptian flag in 108 countries around the world, believes that sending an Egyptian to space will provide inspiration for the country's young people. “Having an Egyptian on a space flight is far more important than reaching the World Cup. Nothing could inspire young Egyptians more than an astronaut.” Haggag, named Haggagovic by a Russian friend who combined Haggag with victorious, is also known as the Egyptian Ibn Batouta. Asked what would be the first thing he'd do if he reaches space Haggagovic said: “I'll prostrate to Allah in thanks. It will be the first human prostration in space.” Khaled, the third Egyptian participant, knew about the competition from television. “When I first heard about the AXE Space Competition I immediately bought an AXE Apollo product and entered the code on the pack online to get my name in the draw,” he said. “Now I've reached the final ‘I have a dream'.” “Whoever wins from the trio, Egyptians will win on behalf of Egypt.” The 114 participants in the final will be reduced to 13 during the week-long Space Camp starting in Florida on 1 December. During the week they will receive take-off training, endure twice the speed of sound, zero-gravity and undergo a G-force impact challenge. The successful 13 will be blasted more than 100km above the surface of the earth on a Lynx sub-orbital shuttle run by SXC in 2014. “The AXE Apollo launch is the biggest and most ambitious in the AXE brand's 30-year history,” says AXE's global vice president Tomas Marcenaro. “For the first time we're simultaneously launching one global competition in over 75 countries offering millions of people the opportunity to win the most epic prize on earth — a trip to space.” AXE, owned by Unilever and whose deodorant brand is known as LYNX in some parts of the world, announced it was moving into the decidedly more adult realm of space tourism by naming 83-year-old astronaut Buzz Aldrin, pilot of the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon in 1969, as its brand ambassador. “Space travel for everyone is the next frontier in human experience,” says Aldrin. “I'm thrilled that AXE is giving young people of today such an extraordinary opportunity to experience some of what I've encountered in space.” Different countries have different numbers of allocated spaces on the flight. Canada, for example, has two spots while the UK has one. Would-be space travellers in the US also have a chance to win a bonus ticket that allows them to skip local challenges and the one-week camp. “We are one step away from raising the Egyptian flag in space. And this step will be resolved next month,” says Unilever marketing manager Sherine Abdel-Moneim. “We are confident that the three Egyptians contestants will impress in the final and one of them, God willing, will raise the Egyptian flag in space.” In 1998 Egypt became the first country in the Middle East and Africa to launch a satellite, NileSat 101. Two years later NileSat 102 was launched to provide telecommunications services, digital broadcasting (direct-to-home) and broadband services in North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf. “After returning from space, God willing, I plan to give talks in schools and universities about my experience in the hope of inspiring others to follow their dreams and to show anything is possible with hard work and persistence,” says Samra.
