NASA astronaut praises UAE's Sultan Al Neyadi

NASA astronaut Warren Hoburg has praised Sultan Al Neyadi for being the UAE’s first long-duration astronaut, during a live video call from on board the International Space Station (ISS).

During a special ‘Call from Space’ US Edition, hosted by the UAE Embassy in Washington, DC Hoburg said watching Al Neyadi do the spacewalk was one of the best experiences he's had on board the ISS.

"It's been amazing working with him up here," he said. "Getting to see him do the first spacewalk of any astronaut from his region was one of the true highlights of our mission."

NASA Astronaut Warren Hoburg praises the experience of working with astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi during the pre-departure news conference for Crew-6 mission.#TheLongestArabSpaceMission pic.twitter.com/Wy7wlNCICf

— MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) August 23, 2023

Also during the live call, Al Neyadi said he was looking forward to returning home and is excited to share his experience with others. "Hopefully I will get to spend some time with my family, and then the wheel will start rolling again and we will get in touch with a lot of students and spread the enthusiasm about space." 

Al Neyadi has been on board the ISS since March, and is due to complete his mission and return to Earth in the next few weeks.