2023-04-27 23:42:00
It will therefore have been necessary to wait for the 262nd spacewalk near the international station to see for the first time an Arab astronaut participating in it. L’émirien Sultan al-Neyadi is about to make history this Friday. Accompanied by the American Stephen Gerard Bowen, his mission will be to make repairs to the structure of the space station. THE United Arab Emirates become, on this occasion, the 10th nation to take part in such an operation.
The outing required heavy preparation in advance and a lot of training. For many weeks, the astronaut worked on a replica of the station in the pool in Houston. This preparation will be put to good use this Friday, but the task will be heavy and looks complicated.
The purpose of this release is twofold. It is necessary both to intervene on the radio installations of the station, which allow it to communicate with the ground and to prepare the future installation of new solar panels.
With his American colleague, Stephen Bowen, Sultan al-Neyadi will spend 6 and a half hours in a vacuum, encased in a spacesuit weighing several hundred kilograms, with the spectacle of the Earth as a backdrop. The physical effort is extreme. Astronauts who return from spacewalks lose several pounds and take a few days to recover.
► To listen also: Thomas Pesquet’s logbook: return to Earth
1682664403
#Sultan #alNeyadi #Arab #astronaut #perform #spacewalk