UAE: Astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi To Make History at ISS
UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi will become the first Arab to walk in space on Friday, April 28. The historic moment will be streamed live and you can watch the broadcast as it happens. The live stream is scheduled to begin at 4.30 pm, UAE time.
Shortly before starting the mission, Neyadi shared a message on social media. He tweeted: “Counting down the hours until we pass through the ISS airlock into space. Wearing the spacesuit and proudly bearing the UAE flag on my arm, I will soon be undertaking the Arab world’s first spacewalk. Wish us luck!”
On Wednesday, Al Neyadi posted a video to his official Twitter account detailing to space enthusiasts the process of preparing for a spacewalk. The astronaut will be geared up in a 145-kilogram spacesuit that is meant to protect the wearer from the extremities of outer space. A spacewalk, according to NASA, is the duration that the astronaut leaves the space station, also called an EVA which stands for extravehicular activity.
Before the UAE’s spacewalk only nine other countries have taken a spacewalk at the ISS:
- USA
- Russia
- Canada
- France
- Japan
- Germany
- Sweden
- Italy
- UK
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre shared a video explaining the enormity of the historic occasion and said Sultan Al Neyadi would spend around 6.5 hours outside the International Space Station.
Today, a new historic milestone will be achieved inspired by Zayed’s Ambition.
— MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) April 28, 2023
Today, astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi will be conducting the first Arab spacewalk in history.
The live coverage will begin at 4:30 PM. The mission will start at 5:15 PM (UAE time): https://t.co/tx0n331zSQ pic.twitter.com/pDOVQ3PLI4
