Out-of-the-world experience: Interviewing UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi about his last days in space

Like much of UAE, I too consider Sultan AlNeyadi to be a hero. The first Arab to spend six months on the International Space Station (ISS), AlNeyadi also created history as the first-ever Arab and Muslim man to have performed a spacewalk. However, the line of connection for me was that he was a Jiu Jitsu practitioner.

As a fairly newly minted Jiu Jitsu blue belt, I am in love with the sport, and everything related to it. So, when AlNeyadi became the first person to practice Jiu Jitsu in space, I became a fan in every sense of the word.

When the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) offered us an opportunity to interview AlNeyadi in space, I jumped at the opportunity.

KT was among the select few media houses invited to ask questions of the astronaut soaring over 400km above the earth. Each reporter was given just two minutes to ask a question and get a response.

Speaking to AlNeyadi

On Friday afternoon, I arrived at the MBRSC in Al Khawaneej at 1pm sharp. After a brief orientation, we were shown to the control centre. We had each been assigned a sequence to ask the question by random selection. I was second in line. Our phones were left outside to prevent any interference in the line.

At the front of the room was a huge screen on which we were able to watch the Johnson Space Center and then AlNeyadi himself. The voice check began with an official from inside the control room saying “Station, this is MBRSC, how do you hear me?” to which AlNeyadi replied with a smile “I hear you loud and clear” before proceeding to great everyone with the Islamic greeting Assalamu alaikum (peace be upon you).

When it came to my turn, I was nervous. I was about to speak to my hero and that too in space. I walked up to the position and unmuted my mic before asking him how he was preparing to come back and what he would miss the most about the ISS. He replied that with less than a month to go for his return, he was preparing himself. “We are focusing on our ongoing experiments and the maintenance and our daily duties,” he said. “We will continue doing that for the last few weeks here. I am just doing my daily job and hopefully, when the time comes to return home, I am ready.”

He also added that he would miss microgravity the most when he returns as he had gotten used to it. What an “out of the world” experience it was for me!

Always smiling

• UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi could return to Earth as soon as August 31