The Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced that it had selected Hazza Al Mansouri as the prime astronaut for September 25th’s eight-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Hazza Al Mansoori will thus become the first Emirati in space and the first Arab aboard the ISS.
Al Mansouri had been one of two short-listed for high-level training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia in preparation for this mission along with Sultan Al Neyadi, however, Al Neyadi will now become the backup astronaut for this mission.
Hazza Al Mansoori, the former military pilot, with more than 14 years of experience, was chosen from over 4,000 applicants who applied to the UAE Astronaut Programme by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre.
A Soyuz-MS 15 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan will transport Al Mansouri into space on September 25 and he will return to earth aboard a Soyuz-MS 12 on October 3 with his name in the history books.
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