AFP, Posted on Thursday, February 2, 2023 at 5:37 p.m.

An Emirati astronaut, nicknamed the “Sultan of Space”, said on Thursday that he was ready to spend the month of Ramadan on the International Space Station (ISS), highlighting the “challenge” of fasting in these conditions.

At 41, Sultan al-Neyadi will become the first astronaut from an Arab country to spend six months in space when he flies to the ISS on February 26 aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.

The United Arab Emirates, a wealthy Gulf country that embarked on the space race a few years ago, sent another of its citizens, Hazzaa al-Mansoori, into space in 2019 for an eight-day mission.

Sultan al-Neyadi’s will coincide in March with the holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims generally fast from sunrise to sunset.

Complying with this rule on the ISS, which “goes around the Earth in 90 minutes”, is a real “challenge”, the astronaut explained this Thursday during a press conference in Dubai.

With “an average of 16 sunrises and sunsets per day (…) when should one break the fast?” he asked, noting however that the ISS used the GMT time zone.

After saying in Houston on Wednesday that he was not required to fast during his mission, the astronaut said this time “prepare for the holy month with the intention of fasting.”

The Emirati served 20 years in the army, before studying electronics and communications engineering in the UK.

He also has a PhD in data leak prevention technology from Griffith University, Australia.

Chosen from more than 4,000 candidates, the astronaut said he wanted to study the effects of microgravity on the human body for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

Six months in space “may seem long, but that doesn’t bother me because the program is loaded,” he said, saying he was “happy” to be embarking on this mission. He will be joined by Americans Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg as well as Russian Andrei Fediaev.

Sultan al-Neyadi said he would take “family photos” and possibly “some toys” belonging to his children with him.

“I will also be wearing my jiu-jitsu outfit,” he added, highlighting his “love” for this combat sport.

When asked about his ability to shoot while floating on the ISS, he replied with a smile: “We’ll see how it goes.”