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Abu Dhabi: United Arab Emirates (UAE) astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi says he is “not obliged to fast during Ramzan” during his upcoming six-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
Al Neyadi will become the first Arab astronaut to spend six months in space when he is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on February 26 on a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket.
“As far as I am concerned, I can be classified as a traveler, and a traveler has the right to break his fast,” Sultan Al Neyadi said in response to a question at a news conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, U.S. on Wednesday.
“For example, if a person feels that their health is not good, they don’t have to fast,” he added.
“From here we can eat enough to avoid anything that could disrupt the mission or threaten the crew,” he continued, according to AFP.
Al Neyadi will become the first Arab to spend six months in space when he is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on February 26 aboard a SpaceX-built “Falcon 9p” rocket.
Based on current calculations, this year’s Ramzan is expected to start around March 23, which means Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramzan, is expected to fall from April 20 to April 23.
According to media reports, Al Neyadi is not the first Muslim to spend Ramzan in space.
Prince Sultan bin Salman of Saudi Arabia was the first Muslim in space when the US space shuttle Discovery flew in 1985. He fasted the day he was launched, the last day of Ramzan.
In 2007, Malaysian astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor also spent days in space with Ramzan.
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