Emirati astronauts raise UAE flag in Baikonur

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Baikonur, emirati astronauts, uae flag, uae, dubai, hazza al mansoori, sultan al neyadi

Baikonur - This is part of the pre-launch preparations for the mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

A Staff Reporter

Published: Thu 12 Sep 2019, 7:11 PM

Last updated: Fri 13 Sep 2019, 9:11 AM

Emirati astronauts Hazzaa Al Mansoori and Sultan Al Neyadi raised the UAE flag during the ceremony that was held for the countries participating in the mission.
Oleg Skripochka and Jessica Meir, from the main crew, and Sergei Nikolaevich and Thomas Henry, from the back-up crew, also participated in the ceremony.
This is part of the pre-launch preparations for the mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, September 25, and as per the tradition of astronauts prior to launch, on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The main crew and the back-up crew also visited the Baikonur Cosmodrome Museum, which includes space equipment and miniature models of rockets that have launched to space. They also signed the wall of Sergei Korolev at the museum. Korolev was the lead Soviet rocket engineer, in the 1940s and 1950s.

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Al Mansoori and Al Neyadi arrived in Baikonur on September 10. On September 11, they conducted several tests to ensure the readiness of the Sokol space suit, which they would wear inside the Soyuz spacecraft, during the launch trip to the ISS and the return trip from the ISS back to Earth.

The final preflight preparations of the #SoyuzMS15 spacecraft prime and backup crews have begun at the Baikonur - https://t.co/xHZkSrX0Mj

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- ????????? (@roscosmos) September 11, 2019

Furthermore, the main crew and the back-up crew conducted the first fit-check of the Soyuz MS-15 to ensure that the devices, equipment, and payload, were in place, and to record any observations for the engineers responsible for the spacecraft.
The mission is part of the UAE Astronaut Programme, which is overseen by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The UAE Astronaut Programme is the first integrated programme in the Arab region to prepare national cadres to participate in human space flights and carry out various scientific missions, in addition to becoming a part of the research carried out by the global scientific community to devise solutions to many challenges facing humanity.