UAE in space: 11 fun facts about the mission to ISS

When Major Hazza blasts into orbit on Wednesday history will be made

jsc2017e096664 (July 17, 2017) --- In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, unidentified Expedition 52-53 crewmembers display toys from their children July 17 outside their Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft during a fit check dress rehearsal. The toys are hung above the crewmembers’ heads in the Soyuz’ descent module compartment as weightless, or “zero-g” indicators during the launch phase of the mission. Randy Bresnik of NASA, Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency will launch July 28 on the Soyuz MS-05 spacecraft for a five-month mission on the International Space Station. Credit: Andrey Shelepin/Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

Soyuz: The workhorse of Soviet and later Russian space flight means 'union' in Russian, as written here in cyrillic. As any UAE resident will know, the Arabic for union is etihad, the name chosen for the UAE national airline and other landmarks. So Etihad and Soyuz are the same. Andrey Shelepin / Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre

James Langton

Sep 24, 2019

Emirati astronaut Major Hazza Al Mansouri will blast into space on Wednesday evening in the culmination of months of training and years of planning.

The father-of-four's mission will take him where no Emirati has gone before, crammed into Soyuz MS-15 alongside Oleg Skripochka and Jessica Meir as they hurtle towards the International Space Station at 13,000kph.

Watch the live press conference of Emirati astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri and his crew members Oleg Skripochka and Jessica Meir. The crew on board Soyuz MS-15 will head to ISS on Wednesday.
Posted by The National on Tuesday, September 24, 2019

His journey to Gagarin's Start on Wednesday has meant training, handmade suits and chairs, technical marvels and meticulous planning.

Above are 11 of the fascinating facts and figures along the way...

Backup crew member UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi smiles as the Soyuz booster rocket FG with Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft is installed on the launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, September 23, 2019. Maxim Shipenkov/Pool via REUTERS

First glimpse of the rocket that will take Emirati astronaut Hazza to space

All you need to know about the UAE space mission

How a cuddly toy and Soviet 80s rockers will help Hazza into orbit