UAE from ISS pic by sultan Al neyadi
This is Al Neyadi's first sunlit photo of the UAE shared on his Twitter account Image Credit: Twitter/@Astro_Alneyadi

Dubai: Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi shared a special gift from the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday morning — a stunning picture of the UAE from ISS.

Taking to Twitter, the astronaut, currently on the longest Arab space mission, said: “No matter where I am in the world, my path always leads me home. And even from space, the [sight] of our beautiful country takes my breath away every time.”

This is the first time that Al Neyadi, who docked into the ISS along with three other NASA SpaceX Crew-6 members on March 3, shared his view of the UAE from his temporary home for six months. The ‘Sultan of Space’ had earlier shared a video of the Earth from the Cupola of the ISS.

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His colleague for over a week, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata of Crew-5 had shared the night views of the UAE from ISS days before splashing down to Earth with three other Crew-5 members on Sunday.

“Nice view of the bright city lights of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates when we flew over earlier today!” Wakata had said in the tweet. Celebrating their friendship, Wakata added in the post: “It is a great pleasure to work with @Astro_Alneyadi onboard the ISS!”