List of Arab astronauts

To date, there have been four astronauts of Arab origin, also called "najmonauts"[1][2] ('najm' meaning 'star' in Arabic).[3][4] Prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia flew in the US Space Shuttle in 1985.[5][6][7] Syrian astronaut Muhammed Faris made a space flight in 1987, as part of a joint Syrian-Soviet mission.[8][9][10] In 2019 Hazza Al Mansouri of the United Arab Emirates flew in the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft to the International Space Station and in 2023 Sultan Al Neyadi from the United Arab Emirates flew to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX Dragon crew capsule.[11][12][13]

Arab space explorers, Najmonauts

Sultan bin Salman Al Saud

In 1985, the Arab Organization of Space Communications nominated Sultan bin Salman Al Saud. Originally a civilian pilot holding a commercial pilots licence,[5] Al Saud was born in Riyadh and holds a bachelor's degree of Arts in Media from the University of Denver, Colorado.

Al Saud undertook high-level training before his flight, including: how to deploy the Arab satellite at a distance of 320 km above the Earth's surface, as well as how to use a camera from the unit (Hamlad - 500) to take pictures of geological features of the Arabian Peninsula.

Muhammed Faris

Muhammed Faris is a Syrian astronaut born in Aleppo in 05/26/1951.[8] Faris is the first Syrian astronaut and second Arab into space, flying in the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz m3 (TM-2) to space station Mir on 22 July 1987 with two Soviet cosmonauts in the program for cooperation in space between Syria and the Soviet Union.He is credited with carrying the first recorded Earth dirt into space, which was a vial carrying soil from Damascus.[14]

Emirati astronauts

On 25 September 2019, Hazza Al Mansouri became the first Emirati to become an astronaut, travelling in the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft to the International Space Station.[15] During his short stay aboard the ISS, Al Mansouri conducted 15 experiments created by UAE school students and selected under an MBRSC "Science in space" competition,[16][17] conducted Earth observation experiments, filmed the first ever tour of the ISS in Arabic and became the first Middle eastern person to be studied following time in microgravity.[18]

Sultan Al Neyadi became the second Emirati astronaut who traveled to the ISS.

See also

References
  1. Nasir, Sarwat (2020-10-08). "Forget astronauts, meet the 'najmonauts': experts coin a new word for Arab space explorers". The National. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  2. "Experts want region to boldly go with a new name for Arab astronauts". 9 October 2020. Retrieved 2023-01-31 – via PressReader.
  3. Bullen, Lee (2020-10-20). "Russia Has Cosmonauts So Arab Spacemen Want Najmonauts". ViralTab. Retrieved 2023-05-16.
  4. "Muslim Astronaut Posts Stunning Video of Mecca From Space". Futurism. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  5. "Astronaut Biography: Salman Al-Saud". spacefacts.de.
  6. "Johnson Space Center Home". 11 February 2015.
  7. "Al-Saud". astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016.
  8. "Cosmonaut Biography: Muhammed Faris". spacefacts.de.
  9. "Фарис Мухаммед Ахмед". warheroes.ru.
  10. "Faris". astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  11. "From Sultan AlNeyadi to Hazzaa AlMansoori; meet the 'Najmonaut's of the Arab world". me.mashable.com. 2023-03-03. Retrieved 2023-05-16.
  12. "UAE's Sultan AlNeyadi now a 'najmonaut': Meet the 4 Arabs in this elite circle of space explorers". MSN. Retrieved 2023-05-16.
  13. "How the UAE has set its sights on space". The Week. Retrieved 2023-05-16.
  14. "The first Syrian in space". 9 April 2015 – via The National.
  15. "UAE in space: UAE Mission 1 a revered milestone in nation's space exploration goals". gulfnews.com. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  16. "Schools invited to pitch for space project for UAE astronauts". gulfnews.com.
  17. "Science in Space – Push the boundaries and send your experiment to space".
  18. "Hazzaa Ali AlMansoori | Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre - MBRSC -UAE". Mbrsc.ae. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
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