How UAE’s Sultan Al Neyadi is marking a year of his triumphant return from space
Now a minister, he created history in 2023 by conducting longest Arab space mission
Dubai: It has been nearly a year since the celebrated UAE astronaut Dr Sultan Al Neyadi, who is now the Minister of State for Youth Affairs, returned to Earth after the longest Arab space mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
On Sunday, August 4, a month ahead of the first anniversary of him splashing down to Earth along with other members of the NASA Space-X Crew-6 after 186 days in space, Dr Al Neyadi shared heartwarming images of his reunion with his alma mater, Griffith University in Australia.
In a tweet, Dr Al Neyadi expressed his joy at being back at Griffith University, where he did his Master’s degree and pursued PhD in Information Technology.
As a token of gratitude and remembrance, Al Neyadi presented the university with a T-shirt that he had carried with him to the ISS, a perfect gift to his alma mater on the special occasion. He also shared an image of him wearing the same T-shirt in space with the Cupola of the space station in the background.
“During my mission, I captured a photo from space of Griffith University, where I completed my studies. Today, I am glad to be with students and my professors, sharing my experience & presenting to them the university’s T-shirt, which I carried to the ISS. Happy to see you all!” Al Neyadi tweeted.
Outstanding alumnus
Earlier, the university had honoured Dr Al Neyadi by naming him the Outstanding International Alumnus at the Outstanding Alumni Awards 2023.
During the six-month-long mission, Dr Al Neyadi became the first Arab astronaut to complete a spacewalk mission outside the ISS in April 2023.
Dubbed “Sultan of Space,” he completed about 4,000 hours of work in space, contributing to the development of scientific and technological advancement, by conducting about 200 scientific experiments in various fields that took about 585 hours.
In January this year, he was appointed as the UAE’s Minister of State for Youth.