UAE and India share interest in space sector and the two friendly countries seek to invest in space exploration through joint projects…reports Asian Lite News
AlNeyadi returned to earth on 4th September after completing the longest Arab space mission aboard the International Space Station.
He has also become the first Arab astronaut to complete a spacewalk.
The visual campaign featuring the celebrated astronaut in his space suit, has caught the attention of both residents of the city and the summit delegates alike.
UAE and India share interest in space sector and the two friendly countries seek to invest in space exploration through joint projects.
Burjeel Holdings, one of the largest healthcare services providers in the MENA region, chose to celebrate Al Neyadi’s achievements through these hoardings at prominent locations in the heart of the city.
Meanwhile, days after returning to Earth, astronaut AlNeyadi updated his health status and thanked all for being part of his space journey.
“From Earth to Space & back! I write to you with gravity under my feet and warmth in my heart from all the love and support you all have shared. Thank you all for being part of this journey with me,” he posted.
“Friends, I’m in good health and looking forward to meeting you all very soon,” he added.
AlNeyadi succeeded in achieving qualitative and historical achievements, which consolidated the UAE’s regional and global position as the first Arab country to complete the longest space mission in the history of the Arabs, which lasted for six months on the International Space Station (ISS), and included conducting pioneering scientific experiments that contribute to serving humanity and the scientific community.
After AlNeyadi completed about 4,000 hours of work in space, the Emirati astronaut contributed to the development of scientific and technological advancement in the UAE, by conducting about 200 scientific experiments in various fields that took about 585 hours.
“I felt a responsibility to bring a taste of Arab culture to space,” Sultan al-Neyadi tells The Guardian. The daily noted the refreshing perspective AlNeyadi has provided for the global space-watching community, taking photographs of Middle Eastern cities and famed locations that “celebrate a region often negatively stereotyped in the west”…reports Asian Lite News
Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi continues to capture the imagination of the world, making headlines around the globe and grabbing the attention of the international press.
“Deep and soul-stirring, the songs of the late Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum have been played countless times in taxis and coffee shops across the Arab world. Now, thanks to the musical tastes of a pioneering Emirati astronaut, they have found their way to the sterile white halls of the International Space Station,” writes The Guardian after an interview with the Emirati 42-year-old flight engineer from orbit.
“I felt a responsibility during the mission to bring a taste of Arab culture to space…Everybody is watching us; everybody is excited about space. I heard a lot of my colleagues say: ‘It’s really nice to hear a different language on the station,” AlNeyadi told the renowned British daily.
The paper highlighted the fact that more than half of the several hundred people who have ventured across the boundary of space have been Americans, with celestial travel dominated for decades by Nasa-trained astronauts or Russian cosmonauts. “So far, there have been only six visitors to space who are Arabs, now known as “najmanauts” based on the Arabic word for star, “najm”.
It laid a special focus on the ‘Arab taste’ the Emirati astronaut brought to the space, saying that AlNeyadi “has posted regular video updates in Arabic on social media about life in the space station, explaining his abnormal daily life, from eating vacuum-packed space food to keeping fit in a “weightless” environment by using a weight-lifting device that creates its own resistance.
“Asked if he felt pressure as one of a handful of najmanauts to get people in the Middle East and North Africa engaged in space exploration and science, ALNeyadi told the Guardian there is a huge audience in the Arab world “thirsty to learn more about space. It’s our responsibility to deliver the knowledge and deliver these findings to them in an easy and interesting way,” he said. “Especially the youngsters … I would love to be a source of information, a source of inspiration for them. So it’s really a big responsibility.”
The daily noted the refreshing perspective AlNeyadi has provided for the global space-watching community, taking photographs of Middle Eastern cities and famed locations that “celebrate a region often negatively stereotyped in the west”:
“Here is the beautiful and historical city of Baghdad, the cornerstone of the golden age of knowledge,” ALNeyadi wrote in a tweet early in his mission. “Scholars from this great city sparked the flames of discovery, setting the course for modern science. Their legacy reminds us to keep reaching for the stars.”
“In another image of the Lebanese capital, he described Beirut as “the city that breathes art, culture, and beauty”, while the Suez Canal was the “heart of global trade … [that] has brought continents closer for over 150 years”.
The British paper added that the images that have been taken by ALNeyadi with a camera in the space station have created a lot of online excitement.
“This place is called the International Space Station,” he told the Guardian, emphasising the word “international”. “We have a large audience that needs to understand from both sides – an Arab astronaut living and working aboard the station, and then they learn about the culture that we are from and the region.”
The paper mentioned that two Saudi najmanauts, Rayyanah Barnawi – the first Arab woman in space – and Ali al-Qarni, joined Neyadi for an eight-day mission. It was the first time three Arabs were in space together at the same time.
AlNeyadi said the arrival of his two colleagues was “really surreal”. “Just thinking of two, or three in that regard, astronauts meeting in space and speaking Arabic – it was really amazing.”
The departure of AlNeyadi, from the International Space Station (ISS) has been postponed due to unfavourable weather conditions near splashdown sites off the coast of Florida, Nasa and Space X announced on Friday.
The crew was supposed to undock from the ISS tomorrow, September 2.
According to Nasa and SpaceX, the next available undocking opportunity is now no earlier than September 3, Sunday. This means AlNeyadi and his Crew-6 mates — Nasa astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev — are expected to come home on Monday, September 4, depending on weather conditions.
The study aims to observe changes in how astronauts’ cardiovascular and respiratory systems control blood pressure to ensure that the crew stays healthy on their way back into space….reports Asian Lite News
The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) shared a glimpse into astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi’s contribution to the Cardiobreath experiment on the International Space Station (ISS).
The experiment is a critical analysis of the impact of microgravity on cardiovascular and respiratory functions and was conducted in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Simon Fraser University and The University of North Dakota.
Through the experiment, astronauts aboard the ISS monitor their heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen level, and ECG using a bio-monitor shirt developed for the CSA. The study aims to observe changes in how astronauts’ cardiovascular and respiratory systems control blood pressure to ensure that the crew stays healthy on their way back into space.
The experiment was conducted in two phases, wherein it was first tested via a custom-fitted Bio-monitor device and a stationary bike with a cycle that AlNeyadi trained on for 25 minutes at a specific level. The data from the same was tracked by researchers who monitored the heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, and activity levels on both the cycle and while he was standing still to measure balance.
In the second stage, Sultan wore the custom-fitted Bio-Monitor shirt and monitored these measurements for the same parameters while using the Cycle Ergometer and while floating in the ISS. Both the results will further be compared by the researchers on Earth to determine various countermeasures for cardiorespiratory risks in space. The research will also benefit the study and recovery of elderly patients on Earth.
Talking further about the experiment, Adnan AlRais, Mission Manager of UAE Astronaut Programme, said, “The Cardiobreath study is critical to our understanding of long-term space travel and how different activities impact the crew aboard the ISS. This partnership with CSA and the North Dakota and Simon Fraser universities has fortified our knowledge of the dynamics of cardiovascular and respiratory functions in space and how the body adapts to microgravity. We are looking forward to studying this further as it contributes to the future of safer space travel.”
The Cardiobreath study will support astronauts in investigating cardiovascular and respiratory systems and how they impact blood pressure. The study will also showcase the deconditioning that weightlessness can cause while shedding light on comparing data between male and female astronauts.
The UAE Astronaut Programme is one of the projects managed by MBRSC under the UAE’s National Space Programme and funded by the ICT Fund of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), which aims to support research and development in the ICT sector in the UAE and promote the country’s integration on the global stage.
