Middle East

Hazzaa Al Mansoori, the first Emirati astronaut, along with astronauts Nick Hague and Aleksey Ovchinin, returned to Earth safely, after completing his eight-day scientific mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The hatch closing of the Soyuz MS-12 took place at 8:20 am UAE time.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, MBRSC, has announced that the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft, carrying the first Emirati astronaut Hazza Al Mansoori, along with Oleg Skripochka and Jessica Meir, successfully docked with the International Space Station, ISS. This marks the beginning of the first spaceflight to be undertaken by an Emirati astronaut and first visit by an Arab astronaut to the ISS.

Space investment and innovation has hit an all-time high. During the Space Pavilion and Tech Talks we will be discussing how much value can be unlocked from space technology and the new business models and investments boosting the industry.

Speedcast has been awarded a new multi-year contract with an Oil & Gas engineering services customer for fully managed Internet services and IT support across the company's base in Iraq.

The UAE’s first astronaut, Major Hazza Al Mansouri, takes off for the eight-day mission on September 25 at 5.56pm. When his spacecraft docks with the International Space Station (ISS) at midnight, he will become the first Arab to set foot there.

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will cooperatively perform an educational project that uses JAXA’s "Int-Ball", a camera robot for the International Space Station, when the UAE astronaut gets on board the International Space Station for the first time.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the Arab League, received Eng. Mohamed Nasser Al Ahbabi, Director-General of the UAE Space Agency, at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Arab League in Cairo, to discuss an initiative launched by the UAE to establish the "Arab Space Cooperation Group."

Gilat has announced that NTT DOCOMO has awarded Gilat a project for LTE satellite backhaul, to expand its LTE footprint. Gilat, in partnership with SKY Perfect JSAT, will provide NTT DOCOMO with a solution for rural coverage extension, while ensuring secure and robust coverage even in the most challenging weather conditions.

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Laura Montgomery, we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. This is "No Tardigrades Here", originally published 22 August 2019.

On Tuesday, 6 August 2019, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, carrying the AMOS-17 satellite for Spacecom.