Dubai, United Arab Emirates -  October 01, 2019:    On his fifth day aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Emirati astronaut Hazzaa AlMansoori started his day by communicating with the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) teams at the ground stations in Moscow and in Dubai and informing them of his daily schedule. 

Communicating with the ground station in Dubai

MBRSC organised two video conference calls between AlMansoori, school students, and the public. The first conference call was held in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), where AlMansoori showed how the JEM Camera Robot (Int-Ball) works aboard the ISS. Students were given the opportunity to interact with AlMansoori to select the correct answers to control the Int-Ball. The conference call was also attended by Emirati students in Japan, in the presence of HE Khaled Omran Al Ameri, UAE Ambassador to Japan, and a team from MBRSC.

The second conference call was held in cooperation with the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, where students asked AlMansoori how water reaches the ISS, what is the most beautiful thing at the station, how he sleeps, why astronauts are trained at hyper-gravity, reaching 9G’s,  what changed in his body during this trip, and if he has visited the different divisions and sections at the station

In his answer, AlMansoori explained that water is delivered to the station via cargo, which are similar to the Soyuz spacecrafts that carry astronauts to the ISS. He added that the steam is collected from the station and converted to water.

“The most beautiful thing in the station is microgravity; watch how ‘Suhail’ – the mission mascot– is floating, and watch how I drink water,” said AlMansoori.
AlMansoori highlighted that astronauts train at a gravitational force of 9-G prior to traveling to space because the gravitational force in the rocket reaches 5-G during launch, and can reach 9-G at emergency situations.

“I visited all the departments at the ISS, in a tour where I filmed everything. Today I was at JAXA’s Kibo Laboratory, and yesterday I was at ESA’s Columbus Laboratory. I'm excited to share with you the first video about the station in Arabic soon,” added AlMansoori.

“Many changes happened in my body, the size of my head grew bigger because of the rush of fluids upward, and my sense of smell also changed. However, I began to adapt and get used to it after some time,” continued AlMansoori.

Checking AlMansoori’s health status

AlMansoori also spoke to Dr. Hanan AlSuwaidi, the flight surgeon for the mission, who is following his medical status throughout his time in space. 

Soyuz nominal descent training

AlMansoori also trained on the descending procedure on the Soyuz MS-12, along with Nick Hague and Aleksey Ovchinin.

Daily scientific missions

AlMansoori conducted a study on the autonomic regulation of cardiovascular system, central hemodynamic, and the influence of space flight factors on the spatial distribution of the energy of heart contraction.

AlMansoori then began the experiments involving schools in the UAE as part of MBRSC’s Science in Space initiative. 

Documenting life aboard the ISS

AlMansoori recorded his diary for 15 minutes to document life aboard the ISS and his activities aboard.

Scientific experiments

AlMansoori will conduct 16 scientific experiments in cooperation with international space agencies, including Roscosmos, ESA, NASA, and JAXA. Six of these experiments will be conducted in microgravity, and the results of the two environments will later be compared. The experiments include studying the reaction of vital indicators of the human body aboard the ISS. AlMansoori be the first astronaut from the Arab region to participate in such research.