UAE’s Sultan Al Neyadi set to become 1st Arab astronaut to conduct spacewalk

UAE's Sultan Al Neyadi is set to go on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station later this month, marking history as the first Arab astronaut to be part of a spacewalk.

Sultan al neyadi on the international space station

Sultan Al Neyadi is in the Kibo laboratory module of the International Space Station in this picture taken on March 4, 2023. (Image credit: NASA)

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UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi has already created history by being the first Arab astronaut to go on a long-term mission to the International Space Station. Now, on April 28, he is set to become the first Arab astronaut to go on a spacewalk.

“Being chosen as the first Arab astronaut to undertake a spacewalk is a great honour and responsibility. I am looking forward to represent my country and continue the exceptional journey started by generations of astronauts before me,” wrote Al Neyadi in a tweet on Thursday (April 6).

Based on a Space.com report, Al Neyadi should be part of US Spacewalk 86 from the space station. According to NASA, the spacewalk will last about six hours and 30 minutes, during which Al Neyadi and NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen will prepare cables for future solar panel installations. They will also retrieve some communication equipment.

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Al Neyadi reached the space station on March 3 this year as part of an agreement between UAE’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and Axiom Space, the Texas-based space technology company that also designed the suits for the Artemis 3 mission.

Being chosen as the first Arab astronaut to undertake a spacewalk alongside NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen is a great honour and responsibility.

I am eagerly awaiting this historic moment, for which I have trained extensively at the Johnson Space Center. I am looking forward to… pic.twitter.com/AdLnZxeyaJ

— Sultan AlNeyadi (@Astro_Alneyadi) April 6, 2023

But Al Neyadi is not the first Emirati to go to space. That would be Hazza Al Mansoori, who lived on the space station for eight days in 2019. But Al Neyadi is the first Arab astronaut on a long-term mission and is expected to be onboard the space station till September 2023.

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International Space Station