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UAE makes history once again: Sultan AlNeyadi blasts off to space on long-haul mission

The journey to the orbiting laboratory, where he will spend the next six months, will take 24.5-hours

Published: Thu 2 Mar 2023, 9:55 AM

Updated: Thu 2 Mar 2023, 9:38 PM

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Photo: Twitter

Photo: Twitter

The UAE has once again inked history, as the SpaceX Crew-6 mission blasts off to space, carrying Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi on the first six-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday.

He is the second UAE national to go into space, following in the footsteps of Hazza Al Mansouri, who was the first person from the UAE to reach space in 2019.

Al Neyadi along with three other colleagues Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg and Andrey Fedyaev lifted off to space at 9.34 am (UAE time) from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Centre.

The journey to the orbiting laboratory will take 24.5-hours.

An issue with the ignition system on February 27, Monday had led to the launch of Nasa’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission to ISS being scrubbed.

What happens after take-off?

After the take-off the from Launch Pad 39A on a Falcon 9 rocket, Dragon Endeavour will apparently accelerate its four crew members to approximately 17,500 mph, putting it on an intercept course with the space station.

Once in orbit, the crew and SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, California, will monitor a series of automatic manoeuvres.

According to NASA, once in orbit, the crew and SpaceX mission control in Hawthorne, California, will monitor a series of automatic manoeuvres that will guide Endeavour to the space-facing port of the station’s Harmony module.

After several manoeuvres to gradually raise its orbit, Endeavour will be in position to rendezvous and dock with its new home in orbit. The spacecraft is designed to dock autonomously, but the crew can take control and pilot manually, if necessary.

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