Copy of SpaceX Crew-6 PIC 2-1660738801772
From left are, Mission Specialist Andrey Fedyaev, Pilot William Hoburg, Commander Stephen Bowen, and Mission Specialist Sultan Al Neyadi. UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi was chosen as first Arab to go on 6-month mission to International Space Station to commence in 2023. This historic milestone builds on the strong foundations of the UAE’s burgeoning space programme.

Dubai: Sultan AlNeyadi, who will become the first Arab astronaut to go on a long-term space mission, is in the thick of preparations for his historic journey.

On Wednesday, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has released photos of AlNeyadi in spacesuit or Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU, together with three other members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 that will embark on a six-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by Spring of 2023.

Aside from AlNeyadi, the other members of the SpaceX Crew-6 are Nasa commander Stephen Bowen, pilot William Hoburg, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.

Copy of SpaceX Crew-6 PIC 1-1660738799756
The four crew members that comprise the SpaceX Crew-6 mission are seated inside the SpaceX Dragon crew ship during a training session at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Seated from left in their spacesuits are, Mission Specialist Andrey Fedyaev, Pilot William Hoburg, Commander Stephen Bowen, and Mission Specialist Sultan Al Neyadi.

The photos of the four-member SpaceX Crew-6 seated inside the SpaceX Dragon module were taken at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, where they did trainings that included launch, rendezvous, docking with ISS station, unlocking and landing.

AlNeyadi, who has been training along with Hazzaa AlMansoori at Johnson Space Center since 2019, will be the second UAE astronaut on the ISS. AlMansoori first flew to the in 2019 for an eight-day mission.