UAE astronaut trains for spacewalking rescue scenarios ahead of Friday mission

UAE astronaut trains for spacewalking rescue scenarios ahead of Friday mission

He, along with a colleague, spent Monday checking their spacesuits for leaks and proper fit verification

Published: Mon 24 Apr 2023, 11:26 PM Last updated: Tue 25 Apr 2023, 12:13 AM

UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi wore a set of virtual reality goggles and trained for a variety of unlikely spacewalking rescue scenarios ahead of his scheduled spacewalk on Friday.

He, along with his colleague Flight Engineer Stephen Bowen of Nasa, spent their Monday checking their spacesuits for leaks and proper fit verification with assistance from Nasa Flight Engineer Woody Hoburg.

This was revealed by experts during the International Space Station (ISS) Spacewalk preview news conference on Nasa TV that was held at the Johnson Space Centre.

Hoburg, along with Nasa Flight Engineer Frank Rubio, will assist the astronauts in and out of their spacesuits and monitor their spacewalk on the actual day.

The agency said it will provide live coverage of the spacewalk beginning at 3.45pm GST on Friday.

Lead EVA (extravehicular activities) Flight Director for the upcoming mission, Scott Stover said: “Our lead spacewalker is Steve Bowen. This will be his eighth EVA, so he's quite experienced. His seven previous EVAs happened on shuttle missions, spanning from 2008 to 2011. We're very excited to have