Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi to be subject of experiments aboard ISS – News

The four-person Crew-6 flight will take off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on February 26

Sultan Al Neyadi speaks at a press conference at the Museum of the Future. — AFP file

Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi will undergo experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

A total of 250 research experiments will be conducted during the six-month ISS mission, including at least 20 experiments by Al Neyadi, in addition to NASA-commissioned missions and maintenance work on the orbiting station.

“We are subjects ourselves. When we do experiments, we will have many sensors on our bodies. These machines record our sleep, blood vessel activity, breathing, etc. Space radiation and muscle relaxation. How we control (or mitigate) these things is also part of our medicine. part of the experiment,” explained Al Neyadi, who will soon be quarantined before launch.

The four-person Crew-6 flight will primarily help NASA prepare for crewed trips to the Moon, as well as further long-duration missions to live off Earth.

The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon Endeavor spacecraft are scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 11:07 a.m. on February 26.

Experts explained earlier that once the rocket and spacecraft systems checks are complete and all components are certified for flight, the team will integrate Dragon onto the Falcon 9 rocket in the SpaceX hangar at the launch site.

After it is rolled onto the launch pad and raised vertically, there will be a comprehensive static fire test and dry rehearsal with the crew before launch.

Expedition Station 69, which will begin shortly after Crew-6’s arrival, will conduct several experiments related to lunar research, the astronauts explained.

In addition to Al Neyadi, other members of SpaceX Crew-6 are NASA Commander Stephen Bowen, pilot William Hoiberg and Russian cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev.

Explaining the nature of the experiments, Al Neyadi said: “It will be a busy schedule. We will do some experiments on fluids and how they react or move in space. Then we have combustion experiments and the flammability of elements. There’s another flammability test as we move beyond lower orbits to the moon and beyond. We’ll do a lot of scientific observations before, during and after the flight to see what weightlessness does to our bodies Impact. It’s all about science and pushing our boundaries.”

According to NASA, the experiments (conducted by Crew 6) will include studying how certain materials burn in microgravity, tissue chips to study the function of the heart, brain and cartilage, and a project that will collect microbial samples from outside the space station. investigation. These are said to be just some of the more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations that will take place during the mission.

During its stay at the orbiting laboratory, Crew-6 will also see the arrival of cargo spacecraft including SpaceX Dragon and Roscosmos Progress. The astronauts will also meet the agency’s Boeing crew flight test astronauts and Axiom Mission-2 crew during the expedition.

“We’ll be doing a lot of cool stuff too. We have a range of experiments, like materials science and bioscience. The next six months will be very busy. We’ll be doing solid science experiments that we should be able to go back and share with humanity.” Today, a whole generation of us wants to go to space and contribute to more research and knowledge. We now aspire to live on the Moon and eventually settle on Mars,” added Al Neyadi, 41.