Abu Dhabi: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) on Thursday announced the launch date of the first Arab long-duration astronaut mission.
UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi’s launch to the six-month landmark mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is scheduled “no earlier than February 26, 2023”.
He will be on board a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, called Endeavour, mated atop a Falcon 9 rocket that will lift off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
Al Neyadi, who will become the second Emirati in space after Hazzaa Al Mansoori, will conduct several science experiments and research endeavors.
Al Neyadi is part of the four-man SpaceX Crew-6 mission consisting of NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg and Roscosmos astronaut Andrey Fedyaev.
The Crew-6 mission was initially scheduled to launch on February 19. However, the plan changed to allow Russia to carry out a rescue mission to bring back three astronauts currently stranded on the space station.
