Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi to livestream from space to pupils in UAE

He will speak to hundreds of schools every week using live streams or pre-recorded videos

Sultan Al Neyadi training in a mock-up Dragon crew vehicle in October. Photo: Nasa / Space X

A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Florida, carrying a Crew Dragon spacecraft to space. Photo: EPA / Nasa

Sultan Al Neyadi training at Space X's headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Photo: Nasa / Space X

A Crew Dragon capsule docked at the International Space Station, April 2022. Photo: Space X / AP

The reusable Crew Dragon capsule returns to Earth. Photo: Nasa TV

Sultan Al Neyadi seen for the first time in a Space X astronaut suit during a training session with his mission colleagues. Photo: Nasa / Space X

The crew, from left, Andrey Fedyaev, William Hoburg, Stephen Bowen and Sultan Al Neyadi

Emirati astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri before boarding a Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station. EPA

UAE astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri shortly after landing from space, October 3, 2019. AFP / Nasa

International Space Station crew members before launch, September 25, 2019, at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. AFP

Hazza Al Mansouri and Sultan Al Neyadi during simulation training in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Photo: Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre

UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi will speak to pupils across the country each week during his six-month stay on the International Space Station.

He is scheduled to launch on February 26 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, at 11.07am GST.

Live streams and pre-recorded videos will be broadcast each week to hundreds of schools in the country, in which Dr Al Neyadi will share what life in space is like.

The talks are part of a new educational project by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and the Emirates Literature Foundation that was announced at a press conference on Wednesday.

"We'll be releasing a video every week, some will be live streams, that will be shown in classrooms," Salem Al Marri, director general of the space centre, told The National.

"The content we're planning with our partners is educational content ― how do you live and eat in space?

"It also links to reading books and that will be the core message."

The Emirates Literature Foundation is the organiser of the Emirates Literature Festival, which takes place from February 1 to 6.

Authors from all over the world participate in the event, promoting their books and helping to instil a reading culture.

Schools also participate, with hundreds of pupils expected to attend special presentations and book signings.

In previous editions, UAE astronauts Hazza Al Mansouri and Dr Al Neyadi attended to encourage pupils to read.

"I think reading is very important. I think it's the kind of the beginning step to pretty much everything that we do," Mr Al Marri said.

He said that the videos of Dr Al Neyadi in classrooms could also help to get pupils interested in Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects.

More established space agencies such a Nasa, the European Space Agency and Roscosmos hold regular educational projects in which astronauts speak to pupils live from the space station.

Maj Al Mansouri also carried out some live streams during his eight-day mission to the ISS in 2019.

He recorded videos of himself that showed how he prayed, ate, exercised and did his daily routines in space.

Isobel Abulhoul, chief executive of the Emirates Literature Foundation, said that the partnership with the space centre will lead to the launch of new website, called ELF in Space.

"It will have a mass of interesting facts, fun jokes about space [and] some of the historical facts about space. So it should become a really good education resource," she said.

"And it will be in Arabic and English. All of the sessions will be subtitled between Arabic and English, so language is not a barrier.

"We're trying to interest students with space through books, but in a fun, entertaining way."

What daily life on the space station will be like for UAE's Sultan Al Neyadi