Sultan Al Neyadi to return to Earth in late August

The Emirati astronaut will have completed nearly six months on the International Space Station

UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi. Pawan Singh / The National

UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi and his three colleagues will return to Earth in late August, after completing a near six-month mission on the International Space Station, Nasa said on Saturday.

The Crew-6 astronauts, who are Dr Al Neyadi, America's Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, arrived on the orbiting laboratory on March 3.

They are have been carrying out more than 200 experiments for scientists on the ground and performed a spacewalk for maintenance of the exterior of the structure during their stay.

"Nasa’s SpaceX Crew-6 members are scheduled to return to Earth in August," the US space agency said.

Nasa's ground control clarified ― during a livestream of the crew's Dragon capsule relocation mission on Saturday — that the return date would be in late August.

Dr Al Neyadi, 41, became the first Arab to go on a long-duration space mission, as well as the first to perform a spacewalk.

He ventured outside of the ISS for a seven-hour walk with Mr Bowen to prepare an area of the ISS for a solar array installation happening in the summer.

Dr Al Neyadi has also been assigned 19 experiments by different UAE universities that he will carry out during the remainder of his stay in space.

He has taken on multiple roles since his mission began, including of a plumber when he fixed the station's toilet and has already completed several science investigations such as studying human heart tissue.

He has been capturing stunning images and videos of Earth, including of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UK and the Sahara desert.

On Saturday, he helped to re-dock the Dragon spacecraft that carried him and his colleagues to the ISS.

This helped to free up space for other spacecraft arriving later this month and in June.

Two Saudi and two American astronauts will arrive at the ISS on May 23, as part a private trip by Houston-based company Axiom Space.

This will be the first mission under Saudi Arabia's new astronaut programme.

It will be the first time three Arabs are together in space.