Sultan Al Neyadi, Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg, and Andrey Fedyaev pose for a photograph at Kennedy Space Center.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi and his Crew-6 colleagues arrive at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, 5 days before the launch of the first Arab long-duration astronaut mission to ISS.

Salem Humaid Al Marri, Director General, Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre said, “The UAE Astronaut Programme was launched in 2017, and this is our second mission making the UAE the 11th country globally to launch a long-duration astronaut mission to the International Space Station.

Al Marri, There is a big team from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre working for the success of this mission. We are ready and the astronauts are ready too.”

Sultan is accompanied by Stephen Bowen, Spacecraft Commander, Nasa, Warren Hoburg, Pilot, Nasa, and cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, Mission Specialist, Roscosmos.

As per mission, Neyadi will be spending the month of Ramadan in space.
Neyadi joked that his commander Bowen has requested special dates for him on ISS.

The Crew-6 Dragon, which will be carrying astronauts arrived at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Sunday.

The launch is scheduled for Feb.26 at 11:07 AM UAE time.

Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre said that residents and space lover can record a message to astronaut Sultan wishing him luck on his mission.
It urged participants to send it to us via inbox and the Centre will share the best messages on social media accounts.

Winners will get exciting prizes.

Astronaut Sultan, Mission Specialist, Primary Crew of the Crew-6 explained the key characteristics of the official mission patch.

He spoke about the importance of working as a team aboard the International Space Station.

Sultan said, “We all complement each other even when we do emergency tasks. Working aboard the ISS is a group activity aimed at achieving a common goal.”
He said, “During the mission, we will conduct medical experiments, and experiments in the fields of material science and bioscience.”

Once, aboard the station, Sultan will become a flight engineer for Expedition 69.