Office of Advancement, [email protected]
American University of Beirut (AUB) alumnus Fadi Kanaan (BBA '19) has been selected as one of only nine astronauts for Asclepios VII, a highly competitive international, student-led analogue space mission based in Switzerland. The news was announced by Asclepios on September 19, 2026."
Asclepios, which was launched in 2019, simulates short-term missions to destinations such as the Moon or Mars through field tests and simulations conducted on Earth that mimic the physical, psychological, and operational conditions of space travel or life on another planetary body.
Kanaan was selected from an applicant pool of approximately 400 candidates worldwide and is the only Arab member of this year's crew and the first Lebanese to be selected for the Asclepios program. This achievement marks a significant personal milestone. It is also significant for AUB and for Lebanon as Kanaan will be representing AUB throughout the Asclepios program.
Like many people who have excelled in their fields, Kanaan's path was shaped by grit and hard work, and also by chance. Born and raised in Qatar, Kanaan spent his childhood and adolescence in the United Arab Emirates, Greece, and Morocco, before graduating from Casablanca American School in Morocco. Although he did not spend any time in Lebanon before university, Kanaan always dreamed of joining AUB. “I always wanted to go to Lebanon and live the 'AUB life' I heard so many people talk about," he recalls. Ironically, despite having long dreamed of attending AUB, Kanaan arrived almost by chance after having first been accepted and offered a scholarship to pursue his studies in the US.
At AUB, he immersed himself in university life, participating in activities such as Model United Nations and rugby. But most importantly, he formed friendships that he is confident will last a lifetime. “What I heard more than anything else was that the friendships you make at AUB are ones that last a lifetime. My time at AUB proved that to be true," he notes.
After graduating from AUB, Kanaan pursued an MS degree in security and crime science at University College London. He has worked with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, University College London, and INTERPOL's Cyberspace and New Technologies Lab. In 2023, he joined Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, working across both research and international security partnerships. He is currently co-founder and chief operating officer of N-AI, an artificial intelligence startup developing computer vision and machine learning solutions for public-sector and enterprise applications across the United Kingdom and the Middle East and North Africa region.
Through all of the traveling and many and different responsibilities he has had, Kanaan has remained closely connected to AUB. He is an elected member of the Advisory Board of the Worldwide Alumni Association of AUB (WAAAUB), representing the MENA region; was a member of the WAAAUB Riyadh Chapter in Saudi Arabia; and is working on several projects with AUB.
Kanaan has continued to seek new challenges throughout his career. So, it should come as no surprise that he is involved with the Asclepios project. He says that his experience and multidisciplinary background were a big asset as candidates for Asclepios VII were assessed on both their academic and technical abilities. They were also required to demonstrate that they could access their knowledge in extreme conditions. At one point, candidates underwent an approximately six-hour continuously proctored examination testing cognitive endurance alongside scientific subjects and spaceflight knowledge. It is impressive that Kanaan, whose background is in business administration, was able to demonstrate skills in physics, engineering, and mathematics.
Those who passed the initial examination were invited to an intensive in-person assessment at Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland. One of the most demanding tests at Lausanne was an overnight endurance exercise that required candidates to hike long distances without sleeping, and while occasionally engaging in exercises requiring them to transition directly from prolonged physical exertion into tasks requiring reasoning and teamwork. Some exercises were designed to test how candidates handled situations with incomplete information. For example, they were instructed to learn Morse code without being told when and how – or even if – they might be required to use it.
Candidates were also required to navigate tasks with limited communication, reconstruct complex information collectively from memory, perform search-and-rescue exercises in water, and solve problems while physically exhausted and sleep deprived. The objective was to identify candidates who would be resilient leaders, able to excel under pressure.
As part of the final phase of the selection process, candidates were interviewed by Claude Nicollier, a Swiss astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions between 1992 and 1999. Kanaan recalls that Nicollier asked him at the conclusion of the interview if he was happy. “I told him that I am content, but not satisfied or happy, and that I am constantly searching for the next challenge," says Kanaan. In early July 2026, Kanaan received a phone call confirming his acceptance to the program. “I wasn't really sure how I felt when I first heard the news. I was definitely shocked, but more so excited. I think I am still wrapping my head around what happened," he notes.
Kanaan is about to embark on the training and mission-preparation phase for Asclepios VII. It will involve weekly training throughout the academic year as well as a series of in-person milestones expected to include integration training, extreme-environment preparation, firefighting training, a mission dress rehearsal, and zero-gravity flight training.
The journey will culminate in the Asclepios VII isolation mission in summer 2027, during which the selected crew will operate together in a simulated space-mission environment.
Senior Vice President for Advancement and Business Development Imad Baalbaki commented on Fadi's achievement recalling AUB's long history of scientific exploration through research. “Fadi's journey is just another chapter in the long history of scientific inquiry at AUB, dating back to the university's Lee Observatory, which was established in 1874 and was one of the earliest astronomical observatories in the region and for decades served as a center for astronomical observation and scientific exchange. We are building on that history with the establishment of our new School of Computing and Data Sciences – and through the individual achievements of our students, faculty, and alumni – of people like Fadi," says Baalbaki.
For Kanaan, participation in Asclepios VII is another unexpected destination in a journey that brought him to AUB in 2015. On this leg of his journey, he is simulating going to space and taking AUB – and Lebanon – with him.
AUB will be checking in with Kanaan periodically throughout his training and mission-preparation journey, sharing updates as he progresses toward the Asclepios VII isolation mission in summer 2027.