Let’s make a space journey with UAE’s first astronauts who are set to launch into space this September for an eight-day mission to the International Space Station.
To show his praise, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, met the duo yesterday at his office in Emirates Towers in Dubai.
The two Emiratis astronauts Hazza Al Mansoori and Sultan Al Neyadi were selected among 4,022 applicants for (MBRSC UAE Astronaut Programme, to participate in global space exploration missions by 2021 which was launched in 2017.
The duo enjoyed a royal appointment with Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed after arriving in the UAE following extensive training in Russia.
Sheikh Hamdan also went over the various phases of UAE Astronaut programme, and the training they undertaken at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia.
Highlighting the importance of the mission ahead of their journey Sheikh Hamdan wished them success in all the projects they will be involved in and the two astronauts are tasked with.
As they are the first two UAE citizens to travel to the International Space Station. This mission is to conduct a number of research and tests, which signify an important step for a very ambitious project that the UAE aims to take the lead in it.
There will be a press conference at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre on Monday in which the announcement of the details are to be revealed and which of the men will carve out a place in the record books.
The two Emirati astronauts have been training hard for the mission, learning to endure simulations of zero gravity and to fend for themselves in the boondocks to train them for the possibility of an off-course landing in Siberia.
Al Mansouri qualified to be an aeronautical pilot and now pilots an F-16B60 aircraft is a military fighter pilot with 14 years of military aviation experience.
Al Niyadi has done Ph.D. in Data Leakage Prevention Technology from Griffith University in Australia. He also has a Master’s degree in Information and Networks Security from the same university and did a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Brighton University in the UK.
