2023-04-29 07:33:01
Al-Neyadi tweeted that his mission, along with American Stephen Bowen, is to “prepare the installation of solar panels.”
Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi left the International Space Station on Friday, becoming the first Arab citizen to walk in space, in an event the United Arab Emirates described as “historic”.
Al Neyadi (41 years old) is the fourth astronaut from an Arab country and the second from the Emirates to participate in a space mission, but he is the first Arab astronaut to leave the International Space Station for regarding six hours and thirty minutes.
The Mohammed bin Rashid UAE Space Center stated on its website that Al Neyadi, wearing a space suit bearing the UAE flag, carried out “the first ever spacewalk by an Arab astronaut,” noting that this event constitutes a “new historic achievement.”
Al-Neyadi tweeted that his mission, along with American Stephen Bowen, is to “prepare for the installation of solar panels.”
Arab history in space
Al-Neyadi, nicknamed the “Sultan of Space”, is also the first Arab to embark on a long space mission, and he left for the International Space Station in early March on a “Falcon 9” rocket from the “SpaceX” company.
The rich Gulf state entered the race in the field of space exploration in 2019, with the dispatch of Hazzaa Al Mansouri to the International Space Station on a mission that took eight days, but Al Mansouri did not walk in space at that time.
In 1985, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent the first Arab and Muslim astronaut into space to participate in a space flight launched from the United States.
On Wednesday, a lunar explorer built by the Emirates was lost during one of the missions to the moon.
And in the year 2021, the Emirates sent an orbital probe to Mars. If the small vehicle weighing ten kilograms called “Rashid” had succeeded in landing, it would have carried out the first Arab mission on the moon.
And soon, the UAE Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ordered the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center to start work on a second rover called “Rashid 2”.
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