UAEs’ first astronaut will represent an entire nation
▶ Hazza Al Mansouri underwent a gruelling journey to secure his place on the International Space Station
In just a few months, Hazza Al Mansouri will rocket into the record books as the first Emirati to travel into space.
September 25 will be the milestone day when Mr Al Mansouri, 34, will begin his eight-day mission on board the International Space Station.
It is the realisation of a dream, not for just one man, but for an entire nation.
Mr Al Mansouri was one of more than 4,000 people to apply to become the UAE’s first astronaut as part of a scheme launched by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre two years ago.
A longlist of 95 men and women was whittled down to 39 who went through an international interview stage.
The 39 candidates underwent a round of tests to measure intelligence, aptitude, neurocognitive ability, personality and working memory, according to the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre.
Eighteen passed these tests, securing a spot in the final interview stage.
Nine elite hopefuls were then chosen to be assessed by specialists from Russia’s Roscosmos space agency in July.
In September, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, announced that Sultan Al Neyadi, a doctor of information technology, and Hazza Al Mansouri, a military pilot, would be sent to Russia for advanced training before the mission.
It was a proud moment for both men, yet they knew that, ultimately, only one of them could become the first Emirati to make it into space.
To ensure they were ready for the incredible challenge awaiting them, the two men were pushed to their limits during a gruelling training regime at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, north-east of Moscow. They learnt winter survival skills, a vital component of preparations before boarding the Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station.
The outdoor training simulated what could happen if the space capsule had to come back to Earth in an emergency and crash-land in a remote location.
“They will be left in a remote area with conditions similar to a Siberian winter and they will have to survive for two to three days on their own. This is a prerequisite for any astronaut before they go on the Soyuz rocket,” Salem Humaid Al Marri, assistant director general for science and technology at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre said at the time.
Although the pair may have felt like they had the weight of the world, or at least a country, on their shoulders they knew there was the prospect of soon feeling like they were walking on air. In January, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre posted a video of the two Emiratis taking part in zero-gravity training.
The footage, taken at their Moscow training centre showed them preparing in conditions that simulate those found on board the International Space Station.
They had to put on and remove heavy space suits within 15 seconds, in case of an emergency.
They were also trained to cope with the dizziness and sickness caused by spinning around when returning to the Earth.
Months of exercise to get into peak shape paid off when Mr Al Mansouri was chosen to be the lead astronaut for the historic mission, with Mr Al Neyadi as part of the backup team.
It is a huge accomplishment for the father-of-four, for whom the hard work is just beginning. He will continue intensive training with the main team for the journey into space.
Mr Al Mansouri will set off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The mysteries of space have long fascinated the entire world. The emirates of the UAE may have only come together as a unified country in 1971, but ambitious leaders soon set their sights further afield.
In the early 1970s, Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father of the UAE, held a number of meetings focused on space projects.
There was one memorable Abu Dhabi meeting in 1976 with three American astronauts who had taken part in a historic link-up in orbit with a Soviet craft a year before.
Sheikh Zayed was presented with a model of the US Space Shuttle, then still five years away from its first flight.
Nearly 40 years later, the UAE Space Agency was set up and the country has been quick to make its mark in space exploration.
Last October, the first entirely UAE-made satellite was launched into space in what was praised as an “unprecedented Emirati achievement” by the country’s leaders.
KhalifaSat, designed and built by engineers at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, was launched into orbit from the Tanegashima Space Centre, sited on an island about 40 kilometres south of the Japanese mainland.
The UAE also plans to launch a probe to Mars in 2021 to mark the nation’s 50th anniversary.
But even that will not be the final frontier because the UAE Space Agency also intends to establish the first human colony on Mars by 2117.
The two were pushed to their limits at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre northeast of Moscow