Amina Belkhayat, a 22-year-old mechanical engineering student from Casablanca, is competing for a seat on Blue Origin's New Shepard through the SERA program, aiming to become the first Moroccan in space. Alongside her studies and outreach platform Space Darija, she researches space food security using medicinal plants and advocates for the creation of a Moroccan space agency. And what if the first Moroccan to travel into space is a woman from Casablanca? That is the dream of Amina Belkhayat, a master's student in mechanical engineering, who is working hard to make that dream a reality. The 22-year-old ambitious woman is trying to secure a seat on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket crew. The competition is organized by the Space Exploration & Research Agency (SERA), an organization that aims to make spaceflight more accessible and inclusive, in partnership with Blue Origin, the American space technology company founded by Jeff Bezos. Amina will be competing with other space enthusiasts for a place on the New Shepard suborbital flight. The program is offering six seats to the global public, five of which are reserved for citizens of countries that have had no or very few astronauts, giving Amina a great chance. «Participants collect points, called SpaceDust, through their engagement, projects, and outreach», Amina told Yabiladi on Thursday. «After this stage, there will also be a community vote, which makes the process even more engaging and participatory», she explained, with high hopes of becoming the first Moroccan to fly into space. Lifelong fascination with space Hoping to secure a spot, Amina sees her participation in this program as another step toward her ultimate goal: «contributing to the space sector». Her dream stems from a lifelong fascination with space. «It started when I was a child», she recalled. Amina would often gaze at the stars, wondering what lay beyond. Her father fueled that curiosity, constantly reminding her that «the sky is your only limit». «That mindset stayed with me and taught me that dreams are worth pursuing», she said. And for Amina, that meant taking concrete steps. She first studied physics at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech, which she calls «the foundation to understand the universe and the laws that make space exploration possible». She then moved to study mechanical engineering at Hassan II University in Casablanca, «not as a final destination, but as a path to bring me closer to space». Space Darija for more space awareness among Moroccans In parallel, Amina has also been exploring data science, a field increasingly important to space exploration as it helps «guide decisions and innovation», she explained. Her interest in data science even led her to conduct a small survey among Moroccan students, revealing that space awareness in the country is very limited. The survey, which included around 150 participants, yielded striking results: about 72% did not know about Crew Dragon, the SpaceX spacecraft that returned human spaceflight to U.S. soil after nearly a decade of reliance on Russian Soyuz rockets, and 61% were unaware of the objectives of NASA's Artemis mission. For Amina, this was proof that information about space projects is scarcely reaching Moroccan students. «Just as young people follow the latest football news, I believe they should also be aware of what is happening in space because it is part of our future», she insisted. To help fill this gap, she created Space Darija, on YouTube and Instagram, where she shares videos in Moroccan Arabic explaining facts and recent developments in space exploration. «My goal is to spark curiosity and show that space is not a distant dream, but a field that also concerns us and where Morocco has a role to play», she said. The feedback has been very encouraging: «Young Moroccans found the topics interesting and kept encouraging me to continue with Space Darija». Medicinal plants for healthier astronauts In addition to her studies, space projects, and outreach, Amina has a particular interest in food security in space, what astronauts eat on missions and how to ensure their diets meet long-term health and performance needs. Her research focuses on the role of «medicinal plants in food systems» for long-duration space missions. «Astronauts cannot rely only on packaged meals. Nutrients degrade over time, and eating the same food every day affects morale», Amina explained. She believes medicinal plants could provide fresh nutrients and natural health benefits to astronauts while offering comfort through familiar tastes and aromas. But the solution is not without challenges. Growing and preserving plants in space is complex. According to Amina, plants «behave differently in microgravity, resources like water and energy are limited, and we need to make sure their properties remain effective during the mission». She also believes Morocco could play a role in such solutions. «With strong expertise in agriculture and food industries, crops adapted to limited water, and the Sahara as a natural laboratory powered by solar energy, the country is naturally positioned to contribute to AFIS—Agriculture and Food Industry for Space», she stressed. A space ecosystem But to fully contribute to the future of space exploration, Morocco needs its own space agency, another big goal for the young Moroccan. She argues that such an agency would allow the Kingdom to «federate initiatives, coordinate research and industry, and create a national ecosystem». From there, other initiatives could emerge: a spaceport as a strategic launch site, a space school offering disciplines such as aerospace engineering, bioastronautics, space medicine, planetary sciences, and space architecture, and even a Moroccan Cité de l'Espace, a center dedicated to education, culture, and innovation. Amina is determined to be part of building this national space research and development ecosystem. But first, she wants to make it to space. «I see it as only the beginning of a much larger journey», she said.
