Sultan Al Neyadi is an Emirati astronaut and member of the United Arab Emirates armed forces. |
He is the second astronaut from the UAE to travel to space and the first to participate in a six-month mission on the International Space Station (ISS) and conduct a spacewalk. |
Born into a Muslim family in the UAE. |
He pursued higher education in the UK and later joined the armed forces in the UAE as a network security and communications engineer. |
While obtaining his PhD in Australia, he authored six research papers. |
In 2017, the UAE government launched a program to create its first Astronaut Corps, receiving over 4000 applications. |
In September 2018, Sultan Al Neyadi and Major Al Mansouri were selected by Dubai’s ruler for astronaut training at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre. |
Following their training in the UAE, they went to Russia for further astronaut training at Moscow’s cosmonaut center. |
Major Al Mansouri was chosen as the first Emirati astronaut to fly to the ISS, with Neyadi as his backup. |
He became a member of the astronaut panel for the Bengaluru-based Human Spaceflight Programme in January 2020. |
In 2020, they received additional training in Houston, Texas, based on an agreement between the UAE and NASA. |
Neyadi and Mansouri trained at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston. |
After rigorous training, they were awarded the NASA astronaut's emblem, signifying their readiness for space missions. |
They went to Canada to learn how to operate the ISS' robotic arm for cargo collection. |
Neyadi received an invitation to the International Astronautical Congress in 2021. |
On 25 July 2022, he was selected by the UAE government to join Expedition 69 on the ISS through NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission. |
He boarded SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft on 2 March 2023 at the Kennedy Space Center. |
By 6:40 a.m. UTC on 3 March 2023, he reached the ISS. |
During his time on the ISS, Neyadi and his team conducted over 250 experiments. |
In April 2023, he became the first UAE astronaut to perform a spacewalk. |
He maintains an active presence on social media platforms. |
He returned to Earth in September 2023 after his ISS mission. |
Apart from space endeavors, Neyadi is skilled in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has competed in martial arts tournaments. |
During his time on the ISS, he frequently shared videos and images of his workout sessions. |