Emirati to raise UAE Flag to the International Space Station on September 25
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Muhammad Bin Rashid Space Center announced that 25 September this year, the UAE's dream
00:13of sending its first astronaut to space will become a reality.
00:22During a press conference on Monday, the officials from MBRSC officially declared the launch
00:27date of the first Emirati astronaut to travel to the International Space Station.
00:32A three-man crew carrying one of the two Emirati astronauts, Haza al-Mansouri and Sultan al-Niyadi,
00:38will lift off to the International Space Station for an eight-day mission.
00:42The Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft will blast off to space seven months from today, returning
00:47to Earth on October 3.
00:48UAE astronauts Haza Ali-Ubdan Khalifa al-Mansouri and Sultan Saif Muftah Hamad al-Niyadi went
00:54through regular training in Russia.
00:56They've done about 50% of their training, so they've completed 50%, they have 50% left.
01:03They are here now, I'm sorry, that will be until the day they fly.
01:07So they will be training, they will be preparing.
01:09They survived the three-day winter survival training last month at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut
01:14Training Center in Moscow in preparation for their trip to the International Space Station
01:19this year.
01:20It was challenging because it's new for us, so to be prepared for this type of training,
01:28I think the language, because it's new for us, and to use a new machine or new vehicle
01:36in a different language, it's really challenging.
01:38Thanks God, alhamdulillah, we've made a lot of efforts in that part.
01:43Initially everything was strange, the difficulty of going to a place called Star City, which
01:49is heading for a long time.
01:53Literally we went there to spend our winter, the Russian winter is very tough, but we were
02:01able to cope very well with the instructors, with the fellow astronauts and cosmonauts.
02:07One of the two UAE astronauts will descend to space on September 25, but it was not announced
02:12yet who among the two.
02:13I will tell you, the flag will go.
02:19So our passion will go, our dreams, our passion of this country to be in lead in this sector,
02:29inshallah will go.
02:31Both of us prepared for this, and it's happening everywhere that there is always a backup,
02:37and we put this scenario on ourselves.
02:39If you ask me personally, honestly I want to be the first, and same with Sultan, he
02:44wants to be the first.
02:45But our objective is higher than this, is to make sure that our dreams of this country
02:53and ambitions reach space.
02:56Whoever is going, we are one team, and we have one mission, is to raise the UAE flag
03:03and board the International Space Station.
03:05We have only 1.5 kilometers to go with us.
03:09Personally I will take the UAE flag as the main item, some photos of families, and probably
03:19some of my favorite books.
03:22For me, for sure I will take my family photo.
03:26The flag will be there also, in my list.
03:29And also I will take with me the dreams and ambitions of UAE youth and the Arab region
03:37to the International Space Station.
03:39Once on the space station, the astronaut's schedule will be packed as he will have tasks
03:44assigned to him every hour of the day.
03:46His main research will focus on the effect of microgravity on research subjects compared
03:51to gravity on Earth.
03:52Aside from doing research, the Emirati astronaut will also present a tour inside the ISS in
03:57Arabic to show the components of the station, equipment on board, and methods of conducting
04:02experiments at microgravity.
04:04The tour will also serve as a reference for the Arab region.
04:07Irish Eden Beleza for Gulf News.