Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi has been chosen to represent the UAE in an upcoming six-month mission to the International Space Station.
UAE rulers Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum took to Twitter to congratulate the astronaut, who they said will be the first Arab astronaut on a long-duration space mission.
“I am proud to congratulate Sultan Al Neyadi on being selected as the 1st Arab astronaut to spend 6 months on the International Space Station as part of a mission to commence in 2023,” Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed said.
He said the “historic milestone builds on the strong foundations of the UAE’s burgeoning space programme.”
The UAE earlier secured the six-month mission to the ISS after it purchased a seat on a SpaceX rocket from Axiom Space, which signed the deal with the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre.
When it launches in the first half of 2023 from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, the space mission becomes the Gulf country’s second one – following the eight-day trip of Hazza Al Mansouri to the ISS in 2019.
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