UAE astronauts Hazzaa and Sultan complete robotic arm training for space journey

Dubai: Pioneering Emirati astronauts Hazzaa AlMansoori and Sultan AlNeyadi are now one step closer to their next mission, following their successful completion of an eight-day training on Canadarm2 at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

Canadarm2 is a 57.7-foot-long robotic arm that is extensively used in capturing cargo spaceships, performing spacewalks, handling payloads and maintenance, and other activities aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

AlMansoori recently tweeted a photo of himself operating Canadarm2. He captioned the picture: “One step closer to the next mission. We completed recently our training on the robotic arm (CanadArm2), which perform Station maintenance, move supplies, equipment, and even astronauts and grappling visiting vehicles and berthing them to the #ISS.”

Alneyadi, for his part, also tweeted: “A big thank you to the amazing robotics training team at the @csa_asc (Canadian Space Agency). During an eight-day training course, I extensively worked on using the robotic manipulator ‘Canada Arm’ to perform various EVA (extravehicular activities) tasks, capture cargo vehicles, and handle payloads.”

Space tasks

The Remote Manipulator System, Canadarm2, is a significant contribution of the CSA to space missions. The robotic arm lends a helping hand to perform ISS maintenance and move supplies and equipment. It can also do “cosmic catches” by grappling visiting vehicles and berthing them to the ISS.

Canadarm2 is made up of parts that can be replaced while in space. It is controlled by astronauts on board the ISS, but it can also be operated by the ground team at the CSA headquarters or NASA.