Sultan Al Neyadi (; born May 23, 1981) is an Emirati astronaut and one of the first two astronauts from the United Arab Emirates, along with Hazza Al Mansouri. He is the first Arab to serve on the International Space Station (ISS) for a 6-month mission, as part of Expedition 69 and the first Arab Astronaut to perform a spacewalk.
Al Neyadi was the back-up for Hazzaa AlMansoori, in the UAE’s first scientific mission to the ISS in 2019, under the slogan ‘Zayed’s Ambition.’
Professional and personal life
Al Neyadi was born on May 25, 1981, in Umm Ghafa, 30 kilometers southeast of Al Ain, in Abu Dhabi, where he received primary and secondary education and where he lives now as the father of six kids. He went to Um Ghafa Primary Boys School and Um Ghafa Secondary School. He excelled in his education, following his father’s footsteps, who served in the military. Al Neyadi joined the armed forces and was assigned to study Communications Engineering. He is an avid practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and started training in the sport in 2016.
He began his higher education in the UK, and received a Bachelor's degree of Science in Electronics and Communications Engineering from the University of Brighton in the UK. He returned to the UAE and began serving for the Armed Forces. He later resumed to his passion for education by heading to Australia to receive his Master’s degree in IT, from Griffith University in Australia, in 2008.
Al Neyadi worked as Network Security Engineer for the UAE Armed Forces and visited more than 20 countries around the world. At the beginning of 2012, he returned to Australia for five years, where he earned a PhD in Information Technology (Data Leakage Prevention) and published six research papers in international websites.
Al Neyadi has a blue belt in jiu-jitsu, and has taken part in the Abu Dhabi World Professional Jiu-Jistu Championship in addition to the President’s Jiu-Jitsu Cup, both in 2018. He made history during his mission to the ISS , by becoming the first person to dressed in a jiu jistu gi - the traditional kimono-style attire worn by the sport’s athletes. He also posted a video outlining how the martial art helped foster skills of discipline, focus and adaptability that he has been able to replicate during his preparation for the 6-month mission, and during his time on the ISS.
Mission and training
Al Neyadi along with his Crew-6 team launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on March 2, 2023. Al Neyadi also recently became the first Arab to undertake a spacewalk during Expedition 69, along with NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen.
During the spacewalk, which lasted 7 hours and 1 minute, they successfully completed a series of preparatory tasks which included routing power cables, as a precursor to the installation of the iROSA.
In preparation for the ISS mission, Al Neyadi trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City in Moscow, based on an agreement with Roscosmos. Al Neyadi underwent rigorous physical, technical and mental mission preparation training included zero-gravity simulation, centrifuge simulation to ready them for the high g-forces, Soyuz simulation, ISS simulation, and winter and water survival training in case of forced landing in an unexpected location. He also learned Russian, as it is the main communication language used aboard the Soyuz spacecraft.
Al Neyadi further received training in Houston, Texas and Cologne in Germany, as part of partnership agreements with major space agencies, including NASA, ESA, and JAXA. The training programme for the ISS mission, which lasted close to 5 years, included training on all sections and units of the ISS and how to use its devices and equipment, emergency fire drills, dealing with low pressure and ammonia leak inside the station, in addition to survival training if the capsule had to land in a cold forest.
Al Neyadi was also trained on the spacesuit, weighing up to 10 kgs and how to wear at zero gravity. He was also trained to perform daily tasks such as preparing food, how to use the camera to document events, taking pictures of the Earth, communicating with the ground stations, and other day-to-day tasks during the mission. Al Neyadi underwent more than 90 courses, with the total number of training hours exceeding 1,400 hours.
He further trained in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), passed evaluations which included using the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), maintenance of the International Space Station, the Incapacitated Crew Rescue (ICR), and completed theoretical and practical training sessions on the T-38 jet.