UAE's 1st long-duration astronaut says a moon mission is within reach.

The United Arab Emirates' (UAE's) first astronaut to spend a long time in space says it's quite possible his country will fly humans further from Earth. "The UAE has signed the Artemis Accords, and hopefully will be part of it in the future," Al Neyadi told Space.com of moon exploration during a press conference from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, livestreamed on NASA Television.

Also, on the SpaceX Crew-6 flight with Al Neyadi was an international crew: NASA astronauts Warren "Woody" Hoburg and Stephen Bowen, and Andrey Fedyaev of Russian space agency Roscosmos. The crew safely returned to Earth on Sept. 6, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean aboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon.

Al Neyadi has been a pioneering UAE astronaut. His region just named the first two astronauts in 2018, and only one other person from that area (Hazzaa Ali Almansoori) has flown to space before him, for a short stay.

Al Neyadi set two key milestones on his own mission, becoming the first person from the UAE to spend a long-duration mission in space, and performing the first spacewalk. While he noted he would like to fly to space again, Al Neyadi also pointed to the three other citizens from the UAE who could go: Almansoori, and December 2021 astronaut candidate class members Mohammad Al Mulla and Nora Al Matrooshi.

"We have astronauts under training that will be finished next year," he said. "It's a continuation of human spaceflight. I'm happy to be part of it, and the UAE is committed to going further into space."

Edited by : www.linkedin.com/in/priyanka-v23

Credits : https://www.space.com/uae-first-long-duration-astronaut-moon-mission-within-reach