UAE celebrates its first astronaut in space – Newspaper

DUBAI: A crowd in Dubai burst into cheers and applause on Wednesday when the first astronaut in the United Arab Emirates launched into the International Space Station, baptizing him as a national hero.

Emiratis and schoolchildren gathered at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center when Hazzaa al-Mansoori, 35, was launched into space accompanied by Russian Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir aboard a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan .

Former pilot of the UAE armed forces, he will be the first Emirati astronaut and the first Arab in the laboratory in orbit, but not the first Muslim.

Some people gathered in central Dubai wore UAE flags, while others wore blue suits that spelled: "Future astronaut."

Badriya al-Hamadi, 38, said she was very proud of the historical moment and added: "I feel that it is I who goes to space." According to Amer Al-Ghafri, from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, the launch of Mansoori is just the beginning of UAE space exploration dreams. "There are many ambitions and much more work," he said.

Mansoori received worldwide support before taking off on what he described as his "dream" mission. He will spend eight days at the ISS, where he plans to conduct experiments.

Writing on Twitter before launch, Mansoori said he was "full of this indescribable feeling of glory and wonder."

“Today I take my country's dreams and ambition to a completely new dimension. May Allah grant me success in this mission, ”he said.

A Koran, a flag of the UAE, photos of his family and a book by the Governor of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum were some of the few things that allowed him to pack for his space adventure.

The iconic Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest skyscraper in the world, illuminated the time of takeoff at 5:57 pm local time.

Sheikh Mohammed, also vice president and prime minister of the UAE, promised in 2017 to send four Emirati astronauts to the space station within five years.

"The arrival of Hazzaa al-Mansoori into space is a message for Arab youth … that we can progress and move forward," Sheikh Mohammed said on Twitter on Wednesday.

"Our next stop is Mars."

Posted in Dawn, September 26, 2019