Look: Rare photo shows UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi in his school years

Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi is making waves after reaching the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday for the longest Arab space mission in history.

Hailed as the ‘Sultan of Space’, the 41-year-old has been addressing the world in Arabic, first from the Dragon spacecraft after liftoff and then at the ISS. Currently, AlNeyadi is the toast of the UAE and the Arab world, set to inspire a whole new generation of space dreamers.

While his meteoric rise came after getting selected as one of the two astronauts from some 4,000 candidates vying for the UAE Astronaut Programme, his journey began from a small area of Umm Ghafa in the ‘Garden City’ of Al Ain, where he received his primary and secondary education.

Recently, an Instagram handle with a collection of rare photos of AlNeyadi tribe shared a snap of the astronaut from his school days.

The post features him along with his friend Dr Salem Murshid Al Mqbali at Umm Ghafa School in Al Ain.

A young, clean-shaven Al Neyadi is seen posing in the photo sporting a smile with the school bus in the background.