Hazzaa al-Mansoori: Everything about the First UAE astronaut in Space

On September 25, a multinational crew with the first-ever flyer from the United Arab Emirates, Hazzaa Ali Almansoori was sent to International Space Stations for a mission. The crew also had a NASA astronaut, Jessica Meir and Oleg Skripochka from the Russian space agency. Al-Mansoori went on an eight-day mission under a contract between the UAE and Roscosmos. Al-Mansoori is the first from the two-men chosen by the Gulf Arab nation to be involved in the mission. He will return to Earth in a week while the other two crew members will be in the orbit for six months.  Just a few hours before the launch, Al-Mansoori said that he is carrying the dreams and ambition of his country to a “whole new dimension”.

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Everything about Hazzaa Al-Mansoori

Al-Mansoori who according to the Prime Minister of UAE, Sheikh Mohammed has sent a message to Arab youth to match pace with the rest of the world. Here's everything about him. 

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Hazzaa Al-Mansoori a former pilot in the armed forces in UAE, was selected for the mission after 1400 hours of training and nearly 90 courses. It was announced only in April that Al-Mansoori has been chosen for the mission over the other UAE astronaut, Sultan Al Neyadi. He is the first Emirati astronaut in space but not the first Muslim. Al-Mansoori was part of the training on F-16 jets in Arizona, United States. The 36-year old astronaut went through an advanced training course in Water survival, GYRO LAP Course Up to 9Gs and RED Flag Exercise. In 2016, he was also selected to train to become an air-show pilot. In the next year, Al-Mansoori was a part of Dubai Airshow 2017 and was also a part of different shows in various UAE cities. 

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Shipment with al-Mansoori

On his first mission in space, al-Mansoori is carrying a shipment weighing 10 kilograms which are prepared by Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre. It evidently constitutes of items related to the heritage, culture, and history of UAE such as flags and logos. He will also take Emirati food with him and 30 Ghaf tree seeds. These seeds will be planted all over the country after he returns in eight days. Along with that, al-Mansoori has also taken the photograph of later Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, a copy of Holy Quran, MBRSC's The Race to Space and the book by Sheikh Mohammed, 'My Story'. While in space, the Emirati astronaut will conduct a series of experiments produced by the schools across UAE.

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(With AP inputs)