Dubai: With the successful lift-off of Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi for the longest Arab space mission, the UAE has sent out a clear message — the country is ready for the space age!

A top official also announced that the country is looking at launching “human space flights every three to five years.”

“I think we’ll be the 10th or 11th country that does a long term space flight to the ISS. And I think that sends a clear message that we are here to be active players and we are here to stay,” Salem Al Marri, director general of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), the agency behind the UAE Astronaut Programme.

Al Marri was speaking at a Nasa press conference held after the successful lift-off of the SpaceX Falcon9 rocket with the Crew-6 Dragon ‘Endeavour’ that carried Al Neyadi along with three other crew members to zero gravity on Thursday.

“Firstly, we have our attention firmly focused on this mission. Of course, looking at the future, we have four astronauts who are currently training at Nasa. Our objectives are to fly them,” said Al Marri.

He said the country is looking at short duration missions and long duration missions.

“Beyond that … as a relatively small country and a new entrant in human space flight, I would expect us to look at our flight every three to five years, something like that.”

Changing Arab presence in space

He pointed out that Al Neyadi’s was the second human space flight for the UAE after the eight-day expedition to the International Space Station by the first Emirati astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansoori in 2019.

“We learnt a lot from that flight and we saw the whole country was tuned in … We have a long-term strategy of wanting to be a player in human space flight because we see the importance of human space flight. We want human space flight to be in the region. There wasn’t a lot of active human space flight in the Arab region, and we think that needs to change. And with this second flight, and a long duration flight, it is making history for us in the region.”

Al Marri pointed out that the country was looking forward to strong partnerships for successful future space missions.

“We can only do that with partnerships. And we look forward to a successful docking and very successful mission and to future missions.”

He expressed his happiness and pride over the successful launch of Crew-6 with Al Neyadi and said: “I’d like to echo what everybody said, it was a beautiful launch. I think it was a gorgeous launch and for us, I think, it made all the sweeter because we had an Emirati on board. And you know, that’s not something that happens very often. So, for that I’d like to thank our partners and Nasa leadership for all your support and effort over the years.”

Strong international partnerships

Al Marri pointed out that the UAE has a very strong partnership with Nasa. “We have four astronauts [either] trained or [now] training at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre. And this type of partnership and long duration flight is something that we value very much. Thank you for that.”

“I’d also like to thank SpaceX, Benji (Benji Reed, senior director, Human Spaceflight Program, SpaceX) and your team for all the dedication at SpaceX that we’ve seen over the years and what we’ve seen throughout this launch campaign as well that your team has put in …[In] this type of partnership, the way, the results are very clear. It’s something that we value very much as well.”