The UAE records its name in the history of the ISS

A citizen of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) made history as the first Arab to reach the International Space Station (ISS) on an important mission lasting more than a week.

'Crowded' international space station

According to Sputnik, on September 26, the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft, carrying the UAE's astronaut Hazzaa al-Mansoori , along with Russian astronaut Oleg Skripochka and Jessica Meir of the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) ), successfully paired this group of 3 astronauts to move to ISS.

The three 'walked into the orbital lab and joined 6 other colleagues in the station for a happy celebration, ' NASA stated on Twitter. This move marks the time when the space station has nine astronauts - the largest number since 2015, including: Alexey Ovchinin and Alexander Skvortsov (Russia), Christina Koch, Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan (USA). ), and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency (ESA).

UAE people are happy to watch the incident from Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai on September 26.(Photo: AFP).

A published video showed that newcomers passed through a hatch to enter the station and were greeted by colleagues. The first Arab to ISS, Mr. Mansoori, 35, has received support from around the world for what he describes as his 'dream mission' . Mansoori astronaut is expected to stay on the ISS for 8 days to conduct three-part tests: scientific testing with international partners, simple science testing proposed by students and educational initiatives joint education with ESA and the Japan Space Exploration Agency.

In Dubai, a crowd gathered at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center to keep track of this historic moment. They cheered and called Mansoori a national hero.

Writing on Twitter before he was at the Baikonur space center, the former pilot of the UAE armed forces said he had 'felt both glory and indescribable fear'. 'Today I bring my country's dreams and ambitions to a whole new field. May Allah grant me success in this mission, ' he said.

Astronaut Mansoori plans to conduct experiments and says he will bring Dubai food to share with other members. After the mission, the astronaut Mansoori will return to Earth with NASA colleagues Nick Hague and Alexey Ovchinin on October 3. Meanwhile, astronauts Skripochka and Meir will stay in the ISS until the spring of 2020.

The ambition of the UAE

Astronaut Mansoori, 35, was one of the first two astronauts to take part in the UAE's ISS mission, along with Sultan al-Neyadi, 38. The two astronauts are among more than 4,000 UAE nationals enrolled in the program to send astronauts to space. The selection took place very harsh through 6 rounds.

As part of its space plan, the UAE also announced its goal of becoming the first Arab nation to send unmanned probes to Mars orbit by 2021, dubbed 'Hope' .

In the long run, the UAE says it plans to build a 'science city' to recreate life on Mars and create the first human settlement on the 'red planet' by 2117. But However, he was not the first Muslim to go to outer space. The first Arab to go out into space was Saudi Arabia's King bin Salman Al-Saud, who flew on an American space shuttle in 1985. Two years later, a Syrian Air Force pilot Muhammed Faris was in space one. for weeks on the Soviet space station Mir.

The International Space Station is a rare example of cooperation between Russia and the West. Moscow is determined to keep its position as the leader of the space industry, especially manned space flights.