‘It was a rollercoaster ride to space’, says UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi to students in Dubai

‘It was a rollercoaster ride to space’, says UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi to students in Dubai

The trip to ISS is equivalent to 120 times the speed of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi rollercoaster

By Angel Tesorero Published: Tue 7 Mar 2023, 5:14 PM Last updated: Tue 7 Mar 2023, 5:35 PM

‘The trip to space was like a really, really fast rollercoaster ride,’ pioneering Emirati astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi candidly shared with students from Jumeirah College, Dubai during a ham radio conversation on Tuesday.

The entire ham radio call, coordinated by ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station), lasted for 10 minutes and AlNeyadi, who was on fifth day of his six-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), also shared what he had for breakfast that day; how he has been sleeping; what he misses most; how he communicates with his family; what keeps him entertained during his free time, and more.

The conversation kicked off with AlNeyadi describing the experience during lift-off on March 2, as the autonomous-flying Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft that carried him and his Crew-6 colleagues was sent to space by a Falcon 9 rocket.

Blast off was like taking a really, really fast rollercoaster ride, AlNeyadi said. To put it into perspective, the world’s fastest roller coaster, Formula Rossa at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, can