Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi completes 100 days on the International Space Station

Weather of Arabia - Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi set a new history of success in the field of space exploration, after he became the first Arab astronaut to spend the longest period on board the International Space Station, amounting to 3 months so far, as part of his engagement in the longest space mission in Arab history, which It is scheduled to run over a period of 6 months. This mission marks a historic milestone for the United Arab Emirates, as Al Neyadi achieved a series of successes and put together an impressive list of unprecedented achievements.

On the occasion of 3 months since the launch of Sultan’s mission, Salem Humaid Al Marri, Director General of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, said: “Congratulations to Sultan Al Neyadi on completing the first half of the longest space mission in Arab history. During this period, he achieved many outstanding scientific achievements, which indicates the level of progress and skill enjoyed by Emirati astronauts. He was also keen to participate in social and knowledge initiatives, including continuous communication with students who represent the future generation. We aspire to more successes and scientific research that will benefit the global space community in the next three months.”

For his part, Adnan Al-Rayes, Director of the Zayed 2 Tamouh Mission - Emirates Astronaut Programme, said: “We congratulate Sultan Al Neyadi for completing 3 months that were full of distinguished achievements, during which he showed exceptional scientific dedication. We look forward to more scientific experiments and research projects over the next three months. This historic mission is a great incentive for us to continue our journey towards achieving more unprecedented achievements in the field of space exploration and the development of the UAE and Arab space sectors.

On the occasion of 3 months since the arrival of Al Neyadi and the Crew-6 crew to the International Space Station, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center highlights the most important achievements made by Sultan Al Neyadi in the first half of his historic mission.

Spacewalk

One of the most important achievements of Al Neyadi during the first 3 months aboard the International Space Station is his success in running the first spacewalk in the history of the Arabs outside the International Space Station, as part of Mission 69, to mark a new achievement to be added to the record of accomplishments achieved by the Mohammed bin Rashid Center. space in the field of space exploration. This historic achievement is also added to the Arab world's contributions to the exploration of outer space. The spacewalk conducted by Sultan Al Neyadi and astronaut Stephen Bowen lasted 7 hours and 1 minute. One of the primary objectives of this mission was to work on a series of preparatory tasks for installing solar panels, which was successfully achieved.

Celebrating his first birthday in space on May 23
As part of the customs of the International Space Station, crew members surprised their colleague Sultan Al Neyadi on May 23, with a party on his birthday, by making two cakes, one American and the other Russian.

Al Neyadi devoted 585 hours to conducting a number of pioneering scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station

The most prominent experiences, research and events in which Al Neyadi participated:

• Al-Neyadi is currently working on devices to monitor the health of the crew, wearing a shirt and headband through which he measures heartbeat, blood pressure, breathing and other matters. With the aim of studying the functioning of their bodies in a microgravity environment.
• Along with crew members, he participated in preparing for the next spacewalk outside the International Space Station, installing a number of solar panels, working on the maneuvers of the Canadarm2 robotic arm through a computer simulation system.
• Sultan sets up equipment for the PCG2 antibody crystal production experiment aboard the International Space Station. This experiment helps to analyze the production of drug crystals in a microgravity environment, which facilitates their production on Earth and in space, and shortens the period of production of new drugs.
• Within the framework of the cooperation of Expedition 69 aboard the International Space Station with the Ax-2 crew, the astronaut Sultan Al-Neyadi worked with the Saudi astronaut Rayana Bernawi of the Ax-2 crew to process samples in the Japanese “Kibo” unit, with the aim of studying the effects of microgravity on the response Human inflammatory cells.
• Al Neyadi participated in the human research activities on the International Space Station's crew schedule, which included ultrasound scans, vision scans, and hearing tests.
• Space physics was also part of the crew's agenda, as scientists and engineers sought to understand how materials made on Earth interact with microgravity conditions.
• Sultan participated in unloading 6,200 pounds of new science experiments, crew supplies, and station hardware provided by the SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle.
• He participated with the crew of Expedition 69 in sending approximately 1,950 kg of valuable scientific experiments and other shipments to Earth via the Dragon spacecraft.
• Preparation for the CapiSorb Visible Systems Fluid Physics study.
• He worked on specialized research on tissue chips related to heart functions, within the "Kibo" unit laboratory.
• Sultan has been testing the possibility of printing knee cartilage tissue in space.

The crew will work on a number of other science experiments, including investigating the effects of microgravity on combustion of materials to enhance spacecraft safety, testing a new space-based immunoassay, and conducting research on 3D-printed cultured heart muscle tissue to assess human heart function in space. microgravity environment.

samples
Al Neyadi collected air samples from the Destiny and Columbus laboratories before cleaning the Fiji Garden for plant production aboard the International Space Station. These samples will be analyzed for research purposes.

4 Visual communication with the audience
Since the beginning of his historic mission, Sultan has been keen to communicate with the public inside and outside the United Arab Emirates, through a number of direct visual communications from aboard the International Space Station, or through wireless communications with school students from all over the Emirates, to provide a glimpse into the nature of life in Microgravity environment, the most important scientific experiments that he performs, as well as inspiring future generations to continue the space exploration journey.

The four visual meetings with Sultan Al Neyadi, as part of the “Meeting from Space” series, witnessed the presence of nearly 5,000 people who were passionate about space and interested in the details of the longest space mission in Arab history. The first meeting was organized in Dubai Opera, while the second meeting was held at the Museum of the Future in the presence of a large number of local and international media representatives, while the third meeting was organized in the State of Mauritius, while the fourth meeting was held in the United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain.

Also under the title "Meeting from Space", Al Neyadi participated in 3 wireless communications, during which he communicated with nearly 100 students from across the Emirates. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center organized these meetings in cooperation with the Emirates Association for Wireless Amateurs and the Emirates Literature Foundation, as part of the UAE initiative In the space between the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center and the Emirates Literature Foundation, which aims to make space exploration available to everyone.

Transferring the vehicle "Dragon" to its new docking port
The Emirati astronaut and Crew-6 crew succeeded in resetting the docking site of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, on May 6. This was the third operation to move the Dragon from one port to another, as this task was repeated on only two occasions, during Crew-1 and Crew-2 missions.