The first Emirati astronaut is all set to launch to the International Space Station today (Sept 25th) in a historic event for the UAE and the Arab world. Watch the NASA Launch Live Stream below.
Hazza Al Mansouri is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Hazza, will be accompanied by astronaut Jessica Meir, and veteran Russian commander Oleg Skripochka. All three will launch at 17:56 UAE time. The team will board the Soyuz-MS 15 spacecraft two hours before taking off. They will then travel about 400km to the ISS, and are expected to arrive around midnight.
Emirati astronaut Hazzaa AlMansoori will represent the UAE as the 19th visiting country to the ISS and its 240th visitor.
A Soyuz MS-12 rocket which is on standby on the ISS will be the team’s ride back home on October 3. Hazzaa and the crew are expected to land around 14.58 in Dzhezkazgan, Kazakthstan before being flown to Moscow for medical tests.
Al Mansoori is a UAE Functional Check Flight (FCF) Pilot F-16B60. He graduated from the Khalifa Bin Zayed Air College, and was one of two people selected from 4,022 candidates, following a series of tests in the UAE and Russia.
Updated: 26/9/19
Hazza Al Mansouri has safely landed on board the International Space Station.
First contact from the ISS with the UAE (Arabic)
