Sultan Al Neyadi poses with the space suit he will be wearing during the spacewalk.

Syed Shayaan Bakht, Staff Reporter

Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi will create history by doing the first spacewalk by an Arab astronaut on April 28. The Emirati astronaut, who has already made history by embarking on the longest Arab space mission for 6 months.

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, shared the news on Twitter. 

Sheikh Hamdan said, “With the ambition of Zayed, who carried us from the desert to space... The son of the Emirates, Sultan Al Neyadi, our ambassador in space, is preparing to embark on the first Arab mission to walk in space on April 28, so that the UAE becomes the 10th country to undertake a mission of this kind outside the International Space Station. Good luck Sultan.”

Sultan Al Neyadi said on Twitter, “Being chosen as the first Arab astronaut to undertake a spacewalk alongside Nasa astronaut Stephen Bowen is a great honour and responsibility.

“I am eagerly awaiting this historic moment, for which I have trained extensively at the Johnson Space Center. I am looking forward to represent my country and continue the exceptional journey started by generations of astronauts before me.”

Two astronauts do maintenance work on the outer panes of ISS.

On April 4, Neyadi received the golden astronaut badge from Nasa during his 6-month mission to the International Space Station.

He wrote, “It is a great honour for me to be part of this historic mission, representing my country, the UAE, and to receive NASA’s golden astronaut pin. I will wear this pin as a symbol of the commitment I made when I started on this journey.”

Nasa said astronaut Al Neyadi and his Crew-6 colleagues have started to work on their tasks aboard the ISS.

The four Crew-6 members are two NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Russian cosmonaut, Andrey Fedyaev, and Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi.