The Charles F. Bolden Group Becomes a Co-Founder of BLINC Space to Build the UAE’s Human Spaceflight Training Platform
Finalized at Make it in the Emirates 2026, the partnership brings Bolden Group's advisory bench and access to BLINC Space as it convenes the Human Spaceflight Training Alliance and builds human spaceflight capability in the UAE.
Charles F. Bolden Group (Bolden Group) today announced an ownership stake in Borderless Labs, Inc., the parent company of BLINC Space, the UAE's first licensed private human spaceflight training platform. The agreement was finalized in May during Make it in the Emirates 2026 in Abu Dhabi. Together, Bolden Group and Borderless Labs will build BLINC Space as an Emirati-led platform that prepares people to live and work in space.
BLINC Space Limited is registered in the Masdar City Free Zone and holds a Space Activity Authorization from the UAE Space Agency. It delivers human spaceflight training, mission readiness, education, and research from the UAE for individuals, institutions, and partners across the region.
“This investment reflects our long-term commitment to BLINC Space, to the UAE, and to the business of space across the region,” said A. Ché Bolden, President and CEO of Bolden Group and Board Chair of Inter Astra Institute. “The UAE has already proven itself a serious space nation. Our job is to help align strategy, leadership, partnerships, and execution so BLINC Space can scale as an Emirati-led platform that prepares people to live and work in space.”
The Human Spaceflight Training Alliance
BLINC Space convenes the Human Spaceflight Training Alliance (HSTA), a structured alliance of specialist partners. Each partner is responsible for one lane of the training pathway. The lanes cover flight operations, academic training and credentialing, medical oversight and human performance, underwater and neutral buoyancy operations, and youth education and early talent. BLINC Space holds the platform and the license. Each partner delivers its lane, so every participant trains with the specialist best placed to train them.
The Alliance's first public engagement comes in December 2026, when a Bolden Group delegation travels to Abu Dhabi 1-10 December. The delegation includes three astronauts: Chris Cassidy, former chief of the NASA Astronaut Office; Dr. Sian Proctor, geoscientist and Inspiration4 mission pilot; and Dr. Jeanette Epps, former NASA astronaut and Executive Vice President of Bolden Group.
Finalizing the agreement at Make it in the Emirates 2026 was a fitting milestone. The event focuses on UAE-based industry, advanced technology, investment, and innovation. That is the purpose of this partnership: practical capability built in the UAE that serves national priorities and regional demand.
“BLINC Space was created to build real capability from the UAE outward,” said Mac Malkawi, Founder and CEO of Borderless Labs, Inc. “Having the Charles F. Bolden Group join us as an equity co-founder gives us the strategic depth and long-term alignment needed to scale that vision across the region.”
The partnership supports the UAE National Space Strategy 2031, adopted in April 2026, and its goal of placing the UAE among the world's top 10 space economies by 2031.
Alliance partners, training programs, and participant cohorts will be announced individually in the coming months. To learn about training with BLINC Space, visit the Train page. For partnership inquiries, visit blinclabs.space.
About Bolden Group
Charles F. Bolden Group (Bolden Group) is a management consulting and advising firm providing access to the business of space. Founded by Charles F. Bolden Jr., Major General, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), former NASA astronaut and 12th Administrator of NASA, the firm helps companies, governments, and investors align strategy, people, partnerships, and execution before high-stakes decisions become hard to reverse. It is led by A. Ché Bolden, President and CEO, and Dr. Jeanette Epps, Executive Vice President. Learn more at bolden.group.
About Borderless Labs, Inc.
Borderless Labs, Inc. builds and scales ventures that connect people, ideas, institutions, and opportunities across borders. Founded and led by Mac Malkawi, Borderless Labs is the parent company of BLINC Space. Bolden Group holds an ownership stake in Borderless Labs.
About BLINC Space
BLINC Space is the UAE's first licensed private human spaceflight training platform. Based in Abu Dhabi and a subsidiary of Borderless Labs, Inc., BLINC Space convenes the Human Spaceflight Training Alliance and delivers training, mission readiness, research, education, and capability development across the region. Learn more at blinclabs.space.
Media contacts
BLINC Space: Mac Malkawi, Founder and CEO BLINC Space, macmalkawi@blincspace.com
Bolden Group: A. Ché Bolden, President and CEO, che@bolden.group