DUBAI: The second Emirati to journey into space, martial arts enthusiast Sultan AlNeyadi, weighed up Thursday performing Ramadan in orbit — and promised to pack his jiu-jitsu suit for the ride.
AlNeyadi, 41, dubbed the “Sultan of Space” by his alma mater, will blast off on February 26 for the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
During his six months in orbit — a record time for any Arab astronaut — AlNeyadi said he would like to observe the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims typically fast from dawn to sunset.
But space travel presents unique challenges.
“The ISS travels quickly... meaning it orbits around the Earth in 90 minutes,” he told reporters in Dubai.
“On average, there are 16 sunrises and sunsets daily... When do you (start and) break your fast?”
AlNeyadi said he could fast according to GMT time, which is used on the ISS, if circumstances allow.
Fasting is not compulsory for certain groups of people, including those who are traveling or unwell.
“I will prepare for the month of Ramadan with the intention to fast,” AlNeyadi said.
He will become the second man from the United Arab Emirates to go to space, after Hazzaa Al-Mansoori’s eight-day mission in 2019.
During the voyage, AlNeyadi will study the impacts of microgravity on the human body in preparation for future missions to the Moon and Mars, he said.
Six months “may seem like a long time, but I don’t mind because the schedule is packed.”
It has already been a long journey for AlNeyadi, who served 20 years in the UAE military.
He also studied electronics and communications engineering in Britain, and then completed a PhD in data leakage prevention technology at Griffith University in Australia.
The UAE is a newcomer to the world of space exploration but quickly making its mark.
It sent an unmanned spacecraft to Mars in 2021, in the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission, and last year a rover to the Moon.
AlNeyadi said he was “happy” to embark on the mission and would take along “pictures of my family, maybe some toys that belong to my children.”
“I will also take my jiu-jitsu uniform because of my love for the sport,” he added.
Asked whether he would do any low-gravity grappling while floating around the ISS, he laughed: “We’ll see how it goes.”
UAE ‘Sultan of Space’ grapples with Ramadan fast on ISS
https://arab.news/yykwh
UAE ‘Sultan of Space’ grapples with Ramadan fast on ISS
- Sultan AlNeyadi: ‘On average, there are 16 sunrises and sunsets daily... When do you (start and) break your fast?’
- AlNeyadi: ‘I will also take my jiu-jitsu uniform because of my love for the sport’
Fledgling radio station aims to be ‘voice of the people’ in Gaza
- The electricity crisis is one of the most serious and difficult problems in the Gaza Strip, says Shereen Khalifa Broadcaster
DEIR EL-BALAH: From a small studio in the central city of Deir El-Balah, Sylvia Hassan’s voice echoes across the Gaza Strip, broadcast on one of the Palestinian territory’s first radio stations to hit the airwaves after two years of war.
Hassan, a radio host on fledgling station “Here Gaza,” delivers her broadcast from a well-lit room, as members of the technical team check levels and mix backing tracks on a sound deck. “This radio station was a dream we worked to achieve for many long months and sometimes without sleep,” Hassan said.
“It was a challenge for us, and a story of resilience.”
Hassan said the station would focus on social issues and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which remains grave in the territory despite a US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas since October.
“The radio station’s goal is to be the voice of the people in the Gaza Strip and to express their problems and suffering, especially after the war,” said Shereen Khalifa, part of the broadcasting team.
“There are many issues that people need to voice.” Most of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people were displaced at least once during the gruelling war.
Many still live in tents with little or no sanitation.
The war also decimated Gaza’s telecommunications and electricity infrastructure, compounding the challenges in reviving the territory’s local media landscape. “The electricity problem is one of the most serious and difficult problems in the Gaza Strip,” said Khalifa.
“We have solar power, but sometimes it doesn’t work well, so we have to rely on an external generator,” she added.
The station’s launch is funded by the EU and overseen by Filastiniyat, an organization that supports Palestinian women journalists, and the media center at the An-Najah National University in Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.
The station plans to broadcast for two hours per day from Gaza and for longer from Nablus. It is available on FM and online.
Khalifa said that stable internet access had been one of the biggest obstacles in setting up the station, but that it was now broadcasting uninterrupted audio.
The Gaza Strip, a tiny territory surrounded by Israel, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea, has been under Israeli blockade even before the attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war. Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to strictly control the entry of all goods and people to the territory.
“Under the siege, it is natural that modern equipment necessary for radio broadcasting cannot enter, so we have made the most of what is available,” she said.
