The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, MBRSC, has announced that the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft, carrying the first Emirati astronaut Hazza Al Mansoori, along with Oleg Skripochka and Jessica Meir, successfully docked with the International Space Station, ISS. This marks the beginning of the first spaceflight to be undertaken by an Emirati astronaut and first visit by an Arab astronaut to the ISS.
Al Mansoori will conduct 16 scientific experiments in cooperation with international space agencies, including the Russian Roscosmos, the European Space Agency, ESA, and NASA. Six of these experiments will be done aboard the ISS to study Brain DTI, osteology, motor control, time perception in microgravity, Fluidics (fluid dynamics in space), and DNAm-Age. Some of these results will be compared with previous results taken prior to the mission.
Hazza Al Mansoori’s ISS mission is part of the UAE Astronaut Programme, which is overseen by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre. The UAE Astronaut Programme is the first integrated programme in the Arab region to prepare national cadres to participate in human space flights and carry out various scientific missions, in addition to becoming a part of the research carried out by the global scientific community to devise solutions to many challenges facing humanity.
The UAE Astronaut Programme is funded by the ICT fund of the TRA. Launched in 2007, the fund, which is the first of its kind in the Arab world, aims to support research and development within the ICT sector in the UAE, to help it grow into a nationally significant and world-leading industry.
Source: WAM
