Hazza Al Mansouri and Sultan Al Neyadi are ready to work aboard the International Space Station

Amna Al Ketbi (Dubai)

Hazza Al Mansouri and Sultan Al Neyadi, the two Emirati astronauts, received the astronaut badge from NASA’s Johnson Space Center after completing their general training that lasted about 20 months. The robotic arm “Kandarm 2,” with a length of 17 meters, which is used by the International Station in many functions, including launching and repairing satellites, as well as moving astronauts around the station during spacewalks, and the possibility of moving different parts of the station.
The two astronauts also trained in the Virtual Reality Laboratory, which helps astronauts train on different and accurate equipment and tasks, including simulating the external maintenance process of the International Space Station during spacewalks, as well as training on the T-38 jet plane, including driving it during ascent and landing, and conducting maneuvers over the Heights of more than 5 km, in addition to learning the electricity of the plane, how to use the rescue chair, and making standard procedures similar to some of the missions of the International Space Station.

It also included training on spacewalking missions outside the International Space Station, staying for long periods in it, and training on many of the operations that take place on board, including dealing with station systems and controlling robots, in addition to the routine tasks carried out by astronauts on board the space station. International, such as operating and handling computer systems, storing and locating equipment, communicating with ground stations, maintaining, installing and repairing equipment, handling international station systems, and controlling robots. Follow spaceships, study how rocket engines and flight mechanics work, and learn about various other sciences, such as geology that helps them learn about the nature of the moon’s surface, and other related cognitive matters. The two astronauts also underwent training in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, which contains more than 23 million liters of water, and a nearly complete model of the International Station, one of the most important methods for preparing astronauts for spacewalk missions, during which the body is suspended in a state between buoyancy and drowning, in a swimming pool. Huge, 202 feet in length, 102 feet in width, and 40 feet in depth. This training is one of the important experiences for astronauts, before any space flight, as the spacesuit is worn under the surface of the water, inside huge pools prepared for training, with the help of weights that maintain At the level of astronauts, by avoiding landing under the bottom, or floating to the surface, this comes to put the astronauts in a state similar to weightlessness and gravity, where they spend 6 hours under water, which is equivalent to an hour of spacewalk.