Forty-one-year-old Al Neyadi, dubbed the “Sultan of Space” by his alma mater, became the first Arab astronaut to embark on a six-month space mission when he blasted off for the ISS last month aboard a SpaceX rocket.

Alongside NASA’s Stephen Bowen, Al Neyadi will change the Radio Frequency Group unit and prepare the installation of solar panels.

Al Neyadi is the second man from the Gulf state to go to space, after Hazzaa al-Mansoori’s eight-day mission in 2019. And he is the first Arab to embark on a long-duration space mission.

The UAE is a newcomer to the world of space exploration but is quickly making its mark. It sent an unmanned spacecraft to Mars in 2021 – the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission – and last year a rover to the Moon.

According to i24news