The United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, has completed the final training in the United States (US), for the six-month landmark mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in February 2023.
In July 2022, among a group of Emirati astronauts at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC), Sultan Al Neyadi was chosen to be the first Arab astronaut who will spend a long six-month mission at the International Space Station (ISS).
Al Neyadi will take part in the NASA mission which plans to set off in February 2023 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre.
Officials announced in April that they had purchased space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket flight, without specifying who would participate in the mission.
Since April 2022, Al Neyadi has been training for the mission in the US, spending time at Johnson Space Center in Houston, SpaceX headquarters in California, and at the launch site in Florida.
On Sunday, a UAE astronaut shared a photo with other crew members at the completion of their final week of training.
“Crew-6 has finished a final training week here at @SpaceX . In the picture I stand with my awesome crew commander Bowen, pilot Hoburg “Woody” and mission specialist Fedyayev in front of a Falcon 9 booster. Soon we will launch onboard a similar one from @NASAKennedy,” Al Neyadi tweeted.
The mission will put the United Arab Emirates on the list of only 11 countries that have sent their astronauts on long-term space missions.
Al Neyadi is due to set a new record for the longest period an Arab astronaut spent on board the station.
This will be the second UAE mission to the International Space Station after Major Al Mansouri spent eight days at the orbiting science laboratory in 2019.
