On the left is the first picture of Sultan Al-Niyadi. These are the astronauts of the United Arab Emirates. These are the second Emirati astronauts who will go to the International Space Station. Before him, Hazza Al-Mansouri was the first Emirate astronaut to fly from Kazakhstan to the International Space station on September 25, 2019 and he spent eight days there.
But now Sultan Al-Niyadi will be the second Emirati astronaut to stay on the International Space Station for six months in 2023. The 41-year-old Sultan Al-Nyadi is an engineer by profession and belongs to the Emirati Air Force. He studied science at an Australian university in 2011 and got a PhD degree. He was the first Emirati astronauts to be selected for astronomy training out of over 4,000 candidates. He completed his astronomy training in UAE and Russia.
How many arab billionaires have gone to space so far?
The answer is four, three men and one woman.
Who were these Arab astronauts and where did they go?
The first Arab was Sultan bin Salman Al-Saud, Prince of Saudi Arabia, who went into space in the US space shuttle in 1985. The second Arab astronaut was Muhammad Al-Faris of Syria who went into space on a Soviet mission in 1987. The third Arab astronaut was Hazza Al-Mansouri, mentioned in the post.
The fourth Arab to go into space was actually the first Arab woman Jessica Meyer of the United States (far right in the picture) whose father was an Arab of Iraqi descent. She also went to the International Space Station with Hazza Al Mansour on September 25, 2019. A Jewish and Muslim astronauts together in space.
Remember that the United Arab Emirates has started working on its space program for the past several years and its space agency has been active since 2014. The Emirates Space Agency has sent a mission named Mars Hope to Mars in July 2020 to observe the atmosphere of Mars which Successfully been in Mars orbit since February 2021 and observing its atmosphere.
In addition, Sheikh Hamad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, announced in 2020 that he will send a nonhuman mission to the moon in 2024.
Probably the Arab world is learning that science and technology is the need of the hour.