United Arab Emirates company plans competition to give citizen free trip to space
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One lucky citizen of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates could soon get the chance to be rocketed into space.
Government-backed Aabar Investments on Sunday announced the start of a competition to award an Emirati a free spot aboard Virgin Galactic's spaceship when it begins ferrying space tourists briefly into space.
The UAE is a seven-state federation that includes Dubai and the federal capital Abu Dhabi.
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Contest details have yet to be worked out. But it appears the large numbers of expatriates who far outnumber the local Emirati population aren't eligible.
Virgin Galactic hasn't set a firm start date to begin taking paying passengers on its suborbital flights. Aabar is a partial owner of the company along with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group.