The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced that it will send astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi to the International Space Station (ISS). Interestingly, the Sultan will make history as the first Arab astronaut to live long in space.
Al Neyadi is planned as part of SpaceX's Crew-6 manned mission. It is expected that the launch can be carried out in 2023 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States.
The certainty of Al Neyadi going into space is regulated through a UAE Government agreement with Axiom Space, a Texas-based aerospace company.
"My selection as the first Arab astronaut for a long-term mission is a great honor and responsibility that I accept with a strong desire to fly the UAE flag high in space once again," said Al Neyadi.
Yes, Al Neyadi is not the first Arab astronaut to fly into space. There is Sultan bin Salman Al Saud who launched in 1985 carrying the flag of Saudi Arabia.
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The UAE itself has sent astronauts from its citizens, namely Hazza Al Mansouri to the ISS in 2019. However, Al Mansouri's trip there was relatively short, only eight days.
Meanwhile, Al Neyabi is projected to stay on the ISS for a period of six months, a duration that is already equivalent to that of US and Russian astronauts.
Uniquely, both Al Mansouri and Al Neyadi both completed space flight training with NASA in 2018. Al Mansouri is prepared for short-term missions, while Al Neyadi is in reserve.
Who is UAE Astronaut Al Neyadi?
As quoted from Space, Tuesday (26/7/2022) Al Neyadi is a network security engineer for the UAE armed forces. The 41-year-old man holds a Ph.D in information technology.
Like other astronauts assigned to the ISS, Al Neyadi has completed about two years of basic astronaut training in space travel, survival training, and other things.
In space, he will be tasked with conducting many in-depth and sophisticated scientific experiments as part of the UAE's astronaut program.
At launch, the first Arab astronaut on a long-range mission, Al Neyadi, will be joined by NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, where they will serve as commander and pilot of the Crew-6 spacecraft.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev joined the crew following a seat swap deal between Russia's federal space agency and NASA to fly cosmonauts aboard American private vehicles in exchange for US Soyuz seats.