Watch the live coverage of the launch of the first Arab long-duration astronaut mission to the International Space Station.
The UAE is making history once again as Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi embarks on a journey today that will make him the first Arab astronaut to carry out a long-duration space mission. Al Neyadi and three other crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission will lift off at 10:45am (UAE time) at Kennedy Space Centre onboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft Endeavour, powered by the Falcon 9 rocket, on the way to the International Space Station (ISS).
Watch the live coverage of the launch of the first Arab long-duration astronaut mission:
Joining Al Neyadi on the 25-hour flight to the space station are NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.
The astronaut from Abu Dhabi, who was raised in Al Ain and previously served as a network security engineer for the Armed Forces, will spend the next six months on the ISS where he will conduct various science experiments in collaboration with different UAE universities.
Al Neyadi will be the first UAE astronaut to fly on a commercial spacecraft. Hazza Al Mansouri, the first Emirati in space, had boarded a Soyuz spacecraft operated by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, on the way to the ISS where he spent eight days in orbit conducting various experiments in 2019. Al Neyadi had served as the back-up astronaut on that mission.
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Al Neyadi, 42, will serve as mission specialist and will become a flight engineer for Expedition 69 once aboard the station.
In a phone call on the eve of Al Neyadi’s space flight, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, expressed the nation’s pride in the Emirati astronaut’s historic feat.
“May God protect you wherever you may be, and may you return to us safe and sound, dear and cherished, raising the flag of our country,” Sheikh Mohamed said. “We are looking forward to your return.”
He added: “We are delighted with you, and we invest in the likes of you.”
The UAE president also checked on the astronaut’s family. Al Neyadi replied saying his family had arrived at the Kennedy Space Center to meet him and attend the launch event. “It was a good gathering for all of us. Everyone is excited and waiting for this historic moment,” said Al Neyadi, a father of six who has been staying in the US for the past three years training with Nasa astronauts.
Al Neyadi met his father, brothers and other relatives from a distance at the Kennedy Space Centre as he remained under mandatory quarantine until lift-off for the mission.
Al Neyadi said he hopes the recent milestones of the UAE in space research and technology will serve as a catalyst for bigger achievements in the future. “The first mission, Your Highness, was already accomplished by my brother Hazza Al Mansouri,” he told Sheikh Mohamed during the phone conversation. “Today, we are continuing this journey, and God willing there will be further stages to come.”
Who is Sultan Al Neyadi?
Born in Umm Ghafa, 30 kilometres southeast of Al Ain, in Abu Dhabi, where he received primary and secondary education, Al Neyadi is the son of a military man, who had been his inspiration to join the service. His family still lives in Al Ain.
The Emirati astronaut earned a Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications Engineering degree from the University of Brighton in the UK. After spending time with the UAE Armed Forces, Al Neyadi moved to Australia to complete his master’s degree in IT from Griffith University in 2008, after which he was employed as a network security engineer by the Armed Forces.
He returned to Australia in 2012 and earned a PhD in IT (Data Leakage Prevention). He has published six research papers.
When the UAE launched its space programme, Al Neyadi and Hazza were selected from more than 4,000 candidates to become pioneering members of the UAE Astronaut Programme in 2017.
A jiu-jitsu enthusiast for nearly a decade, Al Neyadi credits his martial arts skills and training for helping him survive the rigorous demands of being an astronaut. He has stated that he will bring his kimono to the space station.
What will NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission do?
The crew will conduct a total of 250 research experiments during their six-month mission. Working with UAE universities, Al Neyadi will personally conduct at least 20 experiments. His other tasks on the space station include conducting maintenance work on the orbiting science laboratory.
The team will also conduct experiments on fluidics (study of fluid dynamics in space) and test materials, and how they burn in space and react in microgravity and different atmospheres. They will also work with scientists in the study of heart tissue beating in space, as part of research in the development of 3D-printing technology for human organs.
Al Neyadi and the other Crew-6 members will also be helping Nasa’s preparations for crewed missions to the moon and future long-duration space explorations. The Emirati’s American crewmates, Bowen and Hoburg, will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, for the mission, while Fedyaev will serve as mission specialist.
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