National Geographic, in partnership with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, has announced the launch of a short film documenting Hazza Al Mansouri's journey as the first Emirati astronaut to reach space and the first Arab astronaut to reach the International Space Station. MS-15, we also recognize Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, an alternative astronaut for this mission.

The film will be aired for the first time on September 19 at 8 pm UAE time and will be repeated on 22 at 10 pm and 23 at 8 pm.


The film is part of the National Geographic Partnership and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, which spans four years in which National Geographic presents a series of films documenting the UAE's spectacular journey into space.


The film sheds light on the life of Hazza Al Mansouri and Sultan Al Neyadi. The scenes identify the childhood dreams and aspirations of the first Emirati astronauts in space exploration.

The National Geographic documentary along with short episodes take the channel's viewers behind the scenes to learn about the intense training of Mansouri and Neyadi as well as follow the final preparations for the duo before the space flight.

Hazza Al-Mansouri is an astronaut in the first batch of the Emirates Astronaut program, and served as a military pilot of the most prominent pilots F-16 warfare. Hazza is scheduled to spend eight days aboard the International Space Station and will be carried by the Soyuz MS15 spacecraft, which will launch from the Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan on September 25, 2019 led by Russian astronaut Oleg Scribochka, and US astronaut Jessica Mir, and will return aboard Soyuz MS12.

Mansouri commented: "I remember when I was in fourth grade I saw a book about the Arab astronaut Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, and I dreamed to achieve this, so I joined the Air Force to get closer to the stars as much as I can, now I'm close to any time Go from my dreams to space. "

Sultan Al Neyadi, who holds a Ph.D. in the field of information leak prevention and worked before joining the UAE astronauts program in the UAE Armed Forces as a network security engineer, said: "I think our journey is an extension of what our ancestors started. The United Arab Emirates aboard the International Space Station, we are the ambassadors of the nation and we hope to accomplish this mission to the fullest. "


The documentary shows rare footage of the development of the KhalifaSat satellite into the clean rooms of space technology laboratories at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, which was entirely developed and developed by a team of UAE engineers and successfully launched at the end of October 2019 from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan aboard the rocket. H-IIA).

He also touches on the promising space projects in the United Arab Emirates, particularly those related to missions to Mars, and focuses on the UAE space exploration project "Probe of Hope", which will start its mission in 2020 to reach Mars by 2021, coinciding with the anniversary Fifty years after the establishment of the United Arab Emirates. It is worth mentioning that the Mohammed bin Rashid Center for Space is responsible for the implementation and supervision of all stages of the design, implementation and dispatch of the Hope Space Probe, and the Emirates Space Agency to finance and supervise the procedures and details necessary to implement this project.

Launched in 2007, the UAE Astronaut Program is directly supported by the Telecommunications and Information Technology Development Fund (TDIC), the financial arm of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). Communication in the state, enrich, support and develop technical services and promote the integration of the state in the global economy.