Dr Sultan AlNeyadi

Life for Sultan AlNeyadi lately has truly been out of this world!

In a case of a childhood dream coming true, Sultan is undertaking a six-month-long mission orbiting the International Space Station (ISS Expedition 69) serving as a flight engineer with NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6.

“I remember watching the night sky when I was a child when we could see our magnificent galaxy, the Milky Way much more clearly, trying to count the stars with my brothers and sisters,” Dr AlNeyadi said.

“Although it seemed impossible at the time, the idea of visiting these stars captured my imagination.”

Chosen from a pool of more than 4,000 applicants, Dr AlNeyadi was the United Arab Emirates’ second-ever astronaut, and the first Emirati astronaut to take on the six-month-long mission.

SpaceX Crew-6 successfully docked to the ISS on 3 March 2023 at 06:40 UTC, at which time Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai tweeted to say that Dr AlNeyadi was part of the UAE's bright future.

“…Sultan opens new doors for our youth, raises the ceiling for the aspirations of our generations, and represents a bright part of our future,” the tweet said.

First studying electronics and communications engineering in the United Kingdom, Dr AlNeyadi moved to the Gold Coast to study at Griffith University—earning a master’s degree in information and network security in 2007 before going on to complete his PhD in data leakage prevention technology in 2016.

Since being selected almost five years ago, Dr AlNeyadi undertook more than three years of continuous, intense training, where he had to learn a range of new skills and information and prepare his physical readiness.

“I remember meeting some of the other applicants, who were mostly pilots, and thinking that as an engineer, I’d have very little chance of being selected, but they looked at the candidates as a whole, including our academic background, work experience, physical shape, and medical status.”

With no aviation background, he learned to fly jets, SCUBA dive, spend six hours underwater in a neutral buoyancy lab, operate robotics, and even conduct medical procedures in case of an emergency.

He also delved into science, preparing him for the sampling he’s been carrying out on his own body while on board, including monitoring the vascular system, hearing, vision, bone density, body mass and DNA ageing to see the impact of space and weightlessness on human bodies and determine the feasibility of spending long periods in space.

“Arriving at the International Space Station, we had to adapt to microgravity,” Dr AlNeyadi said.

“Although it might sound fun floating going from one place to another and playing with floating objects, it’s hard at the same time.”

“We took it easy in the first few days then gradually picked up the pace doing science experiments on ourselves, showcasing technologies and doing a lot of biomedical science—all for the sake of advancing and discovery in terms of technologies, medicine, and other material science.”

“Onboard the ISS, we have been the eyes, hands, and ears of researchers and scientists on the ground.”

When he decided to study at Griffith, Dr AlNeyadi had no idea where it would take him, saying he’d been dreaming about doing something unique and thought studying Information Technology might help him gain some extra knowledge and expertise to advance his position at the time in the Army, but he never let go of his passion for going to space and exploring.

“Going to Griffith was an exceptional experience,” he said.

“We built amazing bonds with students from multinational groups from all over the world, we worked as teams on different tasks and projects and the amount of experience I gained from my supervisors throughout my master's degree and PhD was really incredible.”

“We would meet with my supervisor Dr Muthu every week and discuss cutting-edge technologies being developed like artificial intelligence and how these algorithms were the key for the future—and now we see AI everywhere!”

In a moment of seeing his own future, Dr AlNeyadi first saw the ISS while he was based at Griffith’s Gold Coast campus.

“I was walking on the beach at the Gold Coast when I saw a moving star,” he said.

“I was surprised by how it was moving really fast then faded away, and after searching it online, it turned out to be the ISS.”

Little did he know then that he would one day be living aboard it as an astronaut, working to improve and push the boundaries of exploration for the sake of humanity, testing technologies, medications and bio fabrication for the medical field in order to improve life on earth.

The ISS has been orbiting Earth for more than 20 years and is to a large degree self-sustained, so the crew have been producing their own energy through solar arrays and recycling around 95% of the water onboard as well as the CO2 gases to make up a purified environment, with these capabilities transferable to life on Earth.

“Living in the harsh environments of space we can’t take things for granted such as easy access to water, oxygen and electricity—which is why we use the best possible technology to sustain and protect everything we have on board,” he said.

“Looking down on Earth I feel our planet is vulnerable and we need to work together as nations to be more proactive in terms of avoiding any negative impact on the environment and planet overall.”

“It has been an amazing journey going to the International Space Station.”