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Dubai: Has living in space for more than three months affected the health of UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi? That was the question on most viewers’ minds Wednesday during Space Sultan’s latest installment of “Calling From Space” on the longest Arab space mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC), the institutions behind the UAE Astronaut Program, and the Mohammed bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU).
Dr. Hanan Al Suwaidi, flight surgeon for the UAE Astronaut Program, answers questions about Al Neyadi’s health.
Dr Al Suwaidi, who is also the only spaceflight surgeon in the region, said she has been monitoring Al Neyadi’s health parameters.
“We monitor the astronauts based on their weight, their heart rate, the nutrition they get, etc. We monitor them throughout the duration of the mission.”
“We are monitoring all of this for Sudan, everything is [normal] No one was worried about his health, within limits,” she said.
Dr Al Suwaidi said she had also been monitoring Al Neyadi’s diet and sleep. She also has regular live calls with him to discuss his health.
Astronauts live in the harsh conditions of space’s microgravity, and spacewalks or extravehicular activities are considered “the most dangerous thing anyone can do in space,” the doctor explained.
During the historic spacewalk on April 28, Al Neyadi’s blood oxygen saturation and heart rate were monitored and he successfully withstood the challenge, she said.
According to her, Sultan has not compromised on his exercise regime, which has helped him maintain his muscular and bone strength.
“Space is harsh”
During a live call with hundreds of members of the medical community, including doctors, researchers and other health workers, Al Neyadi also fielded questions about his health and exercise routine more than 400 kilometers above Earth.
He said he works out at least two and a half hours a day to keep his muscles and weight intact. “We can ride bikes. We have treadmills and other equipment.”
Al Neyadi was also the first astronaut to practice martial art Jiu-Jitsu aboard the International Space Station.
“Space is harsh…you’re just floating, you can be prone to motion sickness, you can have all kinds of symptoms, especially in the first few days. But we’re trained to mitigate these symptoms and effects of microgravity on our health, ’ he explained.
While there are no doctors on the ISS other than astronauts from the medical field, he said orbiting residents always have access to a pharmacy for medicines and medical support from the ground station. “We also have a whole program in place to help incapacitated crew [if need be]”
Al Neyadi says astronauts, including himself, are the subjects of research aimed at developing future medicines that will benefit humans both in space and on Earth. “We are also doing experiments looking at the benefits of making medicines in space,” he added.
Al Neyadi is halfway through his mission, which began on March 3, and is scheduled to return to Earth at the end of August.
Dr Al Suwaidi allayed concerns over the deteriorating health of the UAE astronaut, saying everyone at MBRSC is proud of Al Neydi and they “can’t wait for him to come back.”
‘Come back healthier’
MBRSC Director General Salem Humaid Al Marri said: “…when someone lives in space, they must be able to live in a closed environment…they must have a healthy body and a healthy mind To thrive and survive and do all the work, all the science experiments, they’re under a lot of pressure. So as you can see, it’s not that simple. That’s why we have people like Dr. Hanan And the systems behind it, whether it’s at NASA or at MBRU, it can serve as support…”
“The reason Sultan does two and a half hours of exercise is that for years it was considered the optimum amount of exercise to keep his muscles, bones, etc. alive in space. So I just want you all to know that there is a very big system [MBRS} Centre, also at Nasa and also within MBRU, making sure that he is surviving, thriving and is very happy. And usually what happens is when astronauts come back, they come back fitter than when they were on the ground. So that’s what we hope for Sultan.”
Experiments, competitions
Adnan Al Rais, mission manager, UAE Astronaut Programme, said Al Neyadi was gearing up for the second half of his mission which will be “science heavy.”
“He will be doing a lot of scientific experiments assigned by the UAE universities and he will also be hosting competitions for students. We will have a robotic competition for students to develop programmes for the robots on the ISS and Sultan will be uploading the winning programmes to the robots on board the space station,” Al Rais added.
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