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When Sultan AlNeyadi created a 'heartbeat': UAE astronaut looks back on dangers and miracles in space

For AlNeyadi, who is now a UAE minister, his historic space mission was a childhood dream come true — and he embraced the experience with the curiosity of the young boy who had longed to see life beyond Earth

Published: Wed 15 Jan 2025, 3:02 PM

Updated: Wed 15 Jan 2025, 8:47 PM

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A career soldier, the UAE’s Minister of State for Youth Affairs and the first Arab astronaut to perform a spacewalk, Sultan AlNeyadi speaks to Khaleej Times’ Michal Divon about his unique journey to space and the challenges of returning home to gravity.

This conversation comes as the UAE continues its groundbreaking advancements in space exploration, marked by the historic launch of the MBZ-SAT. As the most advanced commercial satellite in the region, it underscores the nation's commitment to pushing the boundaries of science and innovation, inspiring a new generation of dreamers and explorers.

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As the UAE sent out its first call for astronauts in 2017, AlNeyadi applied right away. Out of 4,000 applicants, he eventually became part of the first batch of Emiratis to embark on five years of gruelling training to enter space. It was a childhood dream come true.

“That was the moment when I realised it might be really happening,” he told Khaleej Times. “I applied. I sent a very good resume. I wanted to show my experience in the army and academia and the overall general knowledge.”

But it was a long road before he was accepted. “We underwent a lot of testing and interviews and medical checkups, psychological checkups, and some testing for IQ and so on,” he said, recounting his journey nine months before his selection in 2018 when he and a team of seven were sent to Russia.

“Everything that we faced during the five years of training and being out of the country, experiencing different cultures, different atmospheres, different food, and then staying away from the family, and then going into examinations and training — it was really hard,” he said.

Out of all these, it was the spacewalk that was “the crown jewel” of the mission and years-long training, he said. “I wasn't thinking of the whole thing as a personal goal,” he said.

"Yes, being in space is the fulfilment of a childhood dream, but again, representing the UAE, going throughout the whole suffering of training, staying away from the family, it meant a lot just to be there, living the moment … that was a great privilege.”

Mission: 'Not to die in space'

The dangers of the mission were not lost on him either, in spite of the honour he said the mission gave him.

“Many people say the main goal for an astronaut is not to die in space, which is really risky. You sit on a rocket with 200 tonnes of fuel. It's a controlled explosion when we take off. Then you go and live for six months at the weather station. Anything can kill you. You can have a fire. You can have a toxic release, which is something really hazardous. So anything, anything can kill you,” he said.

“The main thing, the main objective, is to go and do your admission and come back safely.”

His childhood dream saw him embrace the experience with the curiosity of the young boy who had longed to see life beyond Planet Earth.

“The first encounter with space is actually [about] the weightlessness, obviously. So the child in you will definitely come to the surface, and you'll start playing with food. You'll start doing some manoeuvres and some stunts as well. So that happened by default, even during our daily activity, going from one place to another, you're floating. You’re a superman,” he told Khaleej Times.

It took some weeks for things to become ‘normal’, with more controlled movement and handling tools becoming second nature.

Sharing fascinating facts — such as the team seeing 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets in one day, every 45 minutes — has opened up a whole new world to the millions around the world who will never get to experience space. The team lived life in an almost parallel universe, waking up at 6.30am every day and finishing at 7.30pm, even when it was still sunny outside.

Over the six-month mission, the team did more than 200 scientific experiments, including bio medicine, technology and materials. “We were subjects ourselves. We were the guinea pigs,” he smiled.

“We had so many sensors on our bodies. We had some watches that monitored our sleep. We had some undergarments, headbands, we had all sorts of monitoring. This is just to see the impact of [space on] an individual at the International Space Station.It's totally subjective,” he said.

One of the experiments saw him applying medication to heart cells brought to the International Space Station on a cargo vehicle. “I was applying some medication, and then we put them under a microscope. We heard a call from the ground, saying, Sultan, we are hearing, or we're seeing, actually a heartbeat. The cell itself started beating so that was the moment when I thought, this is really incredible. And this is only one case,” he recalled.

How space changed him

For the young father, it was a life-changing experience that made him appreciate the most simple yet precious things he once took for granted on Earth — from breathing oxygen to creating solar power.

“On Planet Earth, we breathe normal oxygen, we have a good temperature. We have protection from radiation, we have running water — but we take things for granted, and just seeing that is really frightening,” he said.

“You start to understand and to appreciate that everything that we consider for granted now is something that we need to protect, not only for us, but for the young, for the next generation.”

Beyond that, it changed him as a person. "I think I started to appreciate relationships, especially with my my loved ones, my kids and the family, my parents, brothers, friends as well,” he said.

“We trained to survive, and we wanted to come back. But again, anything could happen, and you lose all of this, and they lose you as well. So you start to appreciate why you are living with them. You start to appreciate the time you spent with specific people.”

Becoming a 'stranger'

Coming home was not so simple after six months in space either — physically or emotionally.

“Spending six months away from them, you're almost a stranger. They have their own system. My wife has her own system with the kids, and you're coming back as a newcomer, you're almost a stranger, but eventually it gets easier,” he admitted.

However, his children were full of curiosity to know the details of their heroic father’s mission. “It's almost hard to believe that this all happened … so it's really special to just share some of the moments with them,” he said.

Physically, the transition was also challenging. Going from zero gravity where 200lb objects would just take a small push or pull in the floating atmosphere, even a small bottle of water was too heavy when he first landed.

“Commander Steve Bowen handed me a bottle of water and it felt really heavy, as if I was carrying maybe 10kg, because everything was easy on board the station, but that bottle of water felt really heavy to the extent I dropped it. I couldn't bear it,” he said.

He said that everything felt heavy — his arms, legs, head. “It was really hard to just accommodate, but at the same time, it is really surprising how the human body adapts. It was really quick, so I got better by the hour.”

As the UAE cements its place as a leader in space exploration with recent milestones like the MBZ-SAT launch, the journey of AlNeyadi serves as a powerful reminder of the endless possibilities that arise from vision and perseverance.

His experiences, from enduring the rigours of space training to witnessing the fragility of life on Earth, reflect the spirit of a nation determined to inspire future generations and explore the uncharted.

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