Dubai: A crewmate of UAE’s first astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansoori posted a picture of Abu Dhabi from space on Twitter on Friday, to the delight of Al Mansoori and other followers.
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Nasa astronaut Jessica Meir took the picture of the UAE capital at night from the International Space Station (ISS) while orbiting the Earth some 400-km up. Meir and Al Mansoori were among three astronauts who went up to ISS in September from Kazakhstan.
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Al Mansoori returned to Earth eight days later after successfully performing experiments while Meir will continue her mission into 2020.
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At 3.40am on Friday, she posted the picture saying: “The very first astronaut from the United Arab Emirates launched to space this year – in the same rocket as me! Thinking about my new colleagues and friends (@astro_hazzaa & @Astro_Alneyadi) made my view even more spectacular. Goodnight Abu Dhabi!”
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Sultan Al Neyadi had been selected in the first UAE astronaut programme as the back up astronaut for the ISS mission.
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Replying to Meir’s post, Al Mansoori said: “What a fantastic view you have, my friend @Astro_Jessica, I was honored to work with you inboard the @Space_Station… Good night from the Earth.”
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Who is Meir?
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Meir is an American astronaut who recently, on October 18, performed a spacewalk outside ISS with her colleague, Nasa astronaut Christina Koch – making history as the first all-female spacewalk.
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Since Meir also has Swedish citizenship, she is the first Swedish woman in space, and the second Swedish person to reach space.
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National hero
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Al Mansoori, a fighter pilot, was given a hero’s welcome to the UAE after his return to Earth from ISS in October. In his first public address at a press conference in Dubai in November, Al Mansoori said he was told he would be going to space multiple times when he had signed up for the programme.
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Recently, on December 6, it was announced that the UAE Astronaut Programme was accepting applications for the second manned space mission, details of which have not been revealed yet.
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