And the time has come! It’s Go UAE! Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi’s space mission has been cleared for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, March 2nd, according to NASA and SpaceX officials. The announcement confirming the launch was made by NASA. NASA and SpaceX will forgo a launch opportunity on Tuesday, Feb. 28, due to unfavourable weather forecast conditions. The next available launch attempt is on Thursday, March 2, pending the resolution of the technical issue preventing Monday’s launch. The launch will be streamed live by SpaceX, Nasa and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre.
The Crew-6 mission will launch at 12.34 am (EST) – which is 9:30 am UAE time – after the Launch Readiness Review. NASA and SpaceX scrubbed Feb 27th, Monday’s launch attempt of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station due to a ground systems issue. And now, the revised date is March 2nd.
In a phone call with the astronaut, the UAE President, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, expressed his pride in Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi ahead of his historic six-month mission to space. AlNeyadi said that the mission would “enrich all of humanity”.
“May God bless you and bring you back safely. Please give my regards to your family. We will see you soon, God willing, and we will be overjoyed to see you,” the UAE President told the astronaut from Al Ain.
Sultan Al Neyadi, an astronaut from the UAE, will have butter lemon chicken as his final supper before departing for the International Space Station on Monday. On Sunday, there was a pre-launch media teleconference where it was decided that the launch will proceed.
Dr Al Neyadi’s family travelled to Florida on Saturday to witness his space launch. However, they will have to wait till March 2nd for this historic takeoff.
While all astronauts must seclude themselves before a launch, his father, brother, cousins, and friends greeted him at the Kennedy Space Centre Visitor Complex from a distance. His children, however, were permitted to be close to him by NASA surgeons. During the gathering of the family, he was seen hugging them.
Dr Al Neyadi said that flying on the mission will be a “privilege”.
“I can’t believe that this is really happening and you only realise that when you fly by the launch pad where you see the preparations,” he said.
“It’s becoming real. So, we can’t thank enough everybody that helped and prepared us for this mission.
“I think we are ready physically, mentally and technically. And we can’t wait to launch to space and conduct the mission.”
He will conduct 19 scientific experiments for several colleges in the UAE, numerous other experiments are given to him by NASA, and maintenance work on the ISS, possibly including a spacewalk.
Dr Al Neyadi will be heading to space along with two NASA astronauts, Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. He will complete the trip and become the first Arab astronaut to complete a lengthy space mission.
Two Saudi astronauts, including the first Arab woman in space, will join him in May. Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi are travelling to the ISS for ten days.
Adnan AlRais, mission manager of, the UAE Astronaut Programme, said Al Neyadi is “eager and ready” for the trip during the prelaunch news teleconference for the Crew-6 mission. According to AlRais, the Emirati astronaut is “grateful for the opportunity to represent the UAE” on this trip.
Watch this space and we’ll fill you in with more updates from the big launch!
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