UAE Astronaut: The first Emirati astronaut, Colonel Hazzaa Al Mansouri, who flew into space in 2019, emphasizes that the spacewalk, the ultimate high-altitude hike, is spectacular and authorises astronauts with a unique perspective that only a few can observe throughout their life.
Even with a visor on, the experience of being in space is profound and intense. According to Colonel Al Mansouri, Sultan Al Neyadi, who is set to participate in a spacewalk on April 28, is ” fully trained and prepared for the mission”.
He also stated, ” The experience that I have heard from different astronauts who have conducted the spacewalk is described as “amazing”. The only thing between you and the Earth is the visor.”
Compared to how an astronaut performs other tasks, spacewalks are relatively rare, time-consuming and expensive, and most of all, dangerous.
Al Mansouri added, ” It’s a different experience; you will feel like floating (outside). It is a very complex job as one remains outside for six hours continuously, outside the space station, and the only thing that attaches you to the station are the tethers”.
The spacewalk preparation starts days before the space travellers enter the void. Astronauts prepare by checking every part of their suits and tools, ensuring they are tethered and assembled correctly.
For performing a spacewalk, astronauts wear a bulky suit known as the Extravehicular Mobility Unit(EMU), which protects them from solar radiation, different temperatures and debris.
It takes around 45 minutes to put on this suit, including the time to put on the special undergarments that help keep astronauts cool.
The astronaut must spend more than an hour breathing pure oxygen before going outside the pressured module once put in the spacesuit. This is done to adapt to the lower pressure maintained in the suit.
Major Al Mansouri added, ” So, you have to be methodical and precise. The movement and environment of weightlessness are very tricky, as being in a light environment makes one feel like they are being pushed away from the station”.
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Because of the complexity of the training process, astronauts are trained at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) of NASA, which is a large indoor pool that is approximately 202 feet in length, 102 feet in width, and 40 feet in depth (with 20 feet above the ground level and 20 feet below). The pool holds 6.2 million gallons of water, making it one of the largest indoor pools in the world.
The NBL facility closely resembles the condition that astronauts experience in space. The facility also includes different tools and equipment needed for EVAs. As per Nasa, an astronaut is trained for around seven hours in the pool for every hour they might spend walking in space.
It is said that they practice tasks like connecting cables and removing equipment in a low-gravity environment, which helps them improve their communication and teamwork skills.
Al Mansouri added, ” When trained in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Johnson Space Center in NBL, we trained in the EMV suits for the spacewalk. We have been trained with different astronauts and cosmonauts in that suit. So, we all are qualified to do the spacewalk. Sultan is as ready as any other astronaut from Nasa or Russia”.
