SAASST News

Thursday, 09 March 2023 16:14

UAE Astronaut Sultan Al-Neyadi Set for ISS

The first long-duration astronaut from the United Arab Emirates will be among four crew members flying to the International Space Station on Feb. 27. The sixth operational SpaceX space station mission will make history, bringing the first United Arab Emirates long-duration astronaut to space.

Crew-6 will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, Feb. 27, with four astronauts on board a Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The liftoff is scheduled for 1:45 a.m. EST (0645 GMT).

 

The United Arab Emirates astronaut and Crew-6 member Sultan Al-Neyadi will be the first of his nation to do a space station rotation, following the first-ever Emirati astronaut flight in 2019. Also on board are NASA astronauts Warren "Woody" Hoburg, Stephen Bowen, and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

 

Sultan Al-Neyadi, 41, was one of the first two astronauts selected by the United Arab Emirates in 2017. Before becoming an astronaut, he received a Ph.D. in Information Technology, according to his International Astronautical Federation biography.

 

Al-Neyadi is the first UAE astronaut to fly a normal half-year ISS rotation. He told Space.com it is a "natural progression" following the eight-day space station excursion flight by Hazzaa Ali Almansoori in 2019. He added that the UAE is a signatory to the NASA-led Artemis Accords laying out rules for future human Moon exploration as well as community norms for peaceful work in space. 

 

"It's a matter of actively being a partner of future projects," he said during a Jan. 25 Zoom interview about the work with NASA. Al-Neyadi added that the UAE's Rashid rover is expected to touch down on the Moon in April as another step to assisting with future exploration.