Emirati Astronaut to Undergo Final Mock Mission Next Week

The UAE’s first Emirati astronaut and his crew will be undergoing their final exam next week as part of their final preparations for their mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which is slated on the 25th of September.

The UAE’s first Emirati astronaut, Hazza Al Mansoori will be required to undergo a mock mission on August 30, where he will play out his take-off and tasks to be carried out on the International Space Station (ISS), such as preparing meals, getting equipment ready and arranging camera equipment for meetings, as well as what his role will be during the landing.

Credits: MBRSC/Twitter

UAE Astronaut to Undergo Final Mock Mission for Space Mission in September

Al Mansoori is headed for the ISS from September 25 to October 3 and will be joined by American astronaut Jessica Meir – who is also going to space for the first time – and Russian commander Oleg Skripockha, who has been at the ISS twice. They will travel onboard the Soyuz MS-15 mission, which will mark the 61st expedition to the ISS, as shared in a report by the Khaleej Times.

In the run-up towards their first space mission, Meir has been updating her friends and followers on social media regarding their final training. In one of her Twitter posts, Meir shared: “Today’s mission: exam on manual control for Soyuz landing. I provide inputs to increase or decrease lift, depending on the flight trajectory and g-loading. This training takes place in the centrifuge, providing a direct result of increased g-force. Only 35 days to launch.”

Al Mansoori and his back-up candidate, Sultan Al Neyadi, were selected from over 4,000 candidates by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).

The MBRSC had signed the contract with the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) just an hour after the Soyuz MS-10 incident happened on October 10, where the astronauts were forced to make a ballistic re-entry into the Earth due to improper booster separation. The Soyuz spacecraft hasn’t had a serious incident as such since the 1980s.

For his mission to space, Hazza will be conducting a series of experiments, including a few on himself to check how his body will react to zero-gravity.

Of note, pre-spaceflight results and samples will be compared with results upon their team’s return to Earth.

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