Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi has completed the final training in the United States, for the six-month landmark mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in February 2023.
Al Neyadi underwent training at SpaceX in the US along with other crew members.
In July 2022, among a group of Emirati astronauts at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, 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). He was selected from over 4,000 Emirati astronauts for the mission.
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.
In April 2022, the UAE announced the launch of the space mission to the ISS, with the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) signing strategic cooperation in human spaceflight with Axiom Space.
He 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.
During the mission, Al Neyadi will conduct many in-depth and advanced scientific experiments as part of the UAE Astronaut Programme.
Crew-6 will be the sixth operational astronaut mission that SpaceX flies to the ISS for NASA.
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.
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