Emirati astronauts in Russia for training
MBRSC official says Sultan and Hazza have started intensive 8-month programme
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The UAE’s first astronauts — Hazza Ali Abdan Khalfan Al Mansouri and Sultan Saif Muftah Hamad Al Niyadi — are training hard in Russia, from where one of them will be launched into space in April 2019, a senior official told Gulf News.
Al Mansouri, a fighter pilot, and Niyadi, an IT expert, were on Tuesday announced as the first Emirati astronauts who will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS).
They will undergo an intensive eight-month training programme before the launch, said Salem Humaid Al Merri, assistant director-general for Scientific and Technical Affairs at the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).
“The training programme covers many aspects — most notably aeronautics training — as well as life and work training for space,” he added.
MBRSC is following up with the Emirati astronauts on a daily basis, working with them and making observations during their stay outside the country.
Al Merri added that the UAE is cooperating with the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia, to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the nine candidates who turned up for the training, to test their endurance and prepare them to live and work in space.
A number of criteria qualified Al Mansouri and Al Niyadi to become the first Emirati astronauts. “Their abilities, leadership qualities, endurance and their career specialisations are in line with the space mission they are going to undertake,” Al Merri explained.
The two astronauts will set an example for the UAE’s youth and their selection is an achievement for all Arab countries, Al Merri noted.
The astronauts will work aboard the 35-year-old space station. Three astronauts — one each from Russia, US and UAE — will man the station. All of them will have trained replacement astronauts, in the event of an emergency.