UAE Sultan Al Neyadi Set for Lift off to International Space Station

Sultan al-Neyadi, a UAE astronaut, is scheduled set for lift-off on a space mission today that will be the longest ever undertaken by an Arab astronaut.

Following the cancellation of NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission launch on Monday, Sultan al-Neyadi and the other three crew members will take off on Thursday at 9:34 am UAE time from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA.

SpaceX engineers are in the process of making final preparations to the spacecraft before it takes off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA shared on its live feed.

NASA and SpaceX have approved the launch date for the Crew-6 mission, and have also reported that a technical issue with the Falcon 9 rocket, which caused the initial launch attempt to be canceled on Monday, has been resolved.

“After a thorough review of the data and ground system, both NASA and SpaceX teams identified a clogged filter on the ground as the cause. SpaceX teams replaced the filter, purged the TEA-TEB line with nitrogen, and verified the lines are clean and ready for the next launch attempt,” said NASA.

The Crew-6 launch is scheduled to transport a total of four members, including two NASA astronauts, Mission Commander Stephen Bowen and Pilot Warren Hoburg, along with Sultan al-Neyadi from the UAE, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who will be serving as mission specialists for a science expedition to the space station. Al-Neyadi's family, consisting of his father and six children, are currently present in Florida to witness his journey to space.