UAE says its first astronaut is going into space in September

first astronaut from United Arab Emirates will blast off into on September 25 on a trip to International Station, authorities anunced Monday. Eir military pilot Hazza Al-Mansoori or engineer Sultan al-Neyi will be first Emirati in , part of an ambitious program for this Gulf Arab nation home to world’s tallest building and busiest airport for international travel. But two men, selected from over 4,000 applicants, say y aren’t worried after recent failure of ar Russian rocket carrying astronauts to station.“After incident, we were more confident with preparedness of mission,” al-Mansoori told Associated Press. “In case of any failure, re is equipment onboard rocket to ensure safety of crew, which me us more confident that system works with a high level of equacy.”That incident happened Oct. 11, which saw a Soyuz-FG rocket carrying U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin fail shortly after launch due to a damd sensor. two men landed safely in Kazakhstan.

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al-Neyi:  astronauts who were involved will go into soon

“ astronauts who were involved will go into soon,” al-Neyi said. “This shows how safe Soyuz is, that astronauts are able to survive in case of an accident.”Both men have undergone intensive training at Star City centre outside of Moscow, which included pressure chamber tests, centrifuge tests, parabolic flight training, and winter survival training. Parabolic flights allow astronauts to train for being weightless in .“Since I’m a pilot, I was able to withstand a gravitational force of 9-G,” al-Mansoori said. “w I must train in this sort of gravitational force, 0-G, lack of gravity.”Al-Neyi said biggest challenge he faced was t a physical one.“ most difficult thing perhaps was learning Russian, since it’s only langu which we will use to communicate with crew onboard vessel,” he told AP. “It was also langu y used while training at centre in Russia.” Russian Soyuz craft is currently only vehicle that can ferry crews to International Station after U.S. shuttle fleet retired. Organizers h said y’d anunce name of astronaut going Monday. y didn’t, without offering an explanation. It remains unclear when authorities will choose first astronaut to go in September.

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first astronaut will travel in September with Russian mission aboard Soyuz MS-15

first astronaut will travel in September with Russian mission aboard Soyuz MS-15 and spend eight days at International Station. selected astronaut will return onboard Soyuz MS-12 and n be replaced by second astronaut. UAE has a fledgeling program with big ambitions. It launched its first locally me satellite, KhalifaSat, in October from Japan. It also wants to launch a probe to Mars in 2020. UAE also says it wants to colonize Mars by 2117, with a fully functioning city of 600,000. Though men will be over 400 kilometres (250 miles) above Earth’s surface while on ir trip, Emirati astronauts will have a taste of home when y travel closer to stars. Russia’s state-owned RIA vosti news ncy quoted an unnamed industry source saying that UAE travellers have been offered a menu of Arab dishes to select from when y go into . men have chosen maqloubeh, a one-pot rice dish, salona, a lamb stew, and standard hummus, ncy reported.

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