Sultan Al Neyadi Shares Video Of His First Views Of Earth From ISS Cupola

On Thursday, Sultan Al Neyadi, the UAE astronaut shared a video of how he watched his ‘permanent home’ from his ‘temporary home for six months’.

Sultan Al Neyadi, the UAE second astronaut who is currently on the International Space Station (ISS) for the longest Arab space mission, shared the video of Earth as seen from the Cupola of the ISS.

The UAE astronaut tweeted, saying “Sharing with you my first views of Earth from the Cupola Observational Module aboard the ISS.”

Sharing with you my first views of Earth from the Cupola Observational Module aboard the ISS. The further we journey from Earth, the more we realize just how precious it truly is. Let us cherish and preserve this incredible planet we call home. pic.twitter.com/kGzOHpJPQn

— Sultan AlNeyadi (@Astro_Alneyadi) March 9, 2023

Al Neyadi also shared a valuable message. “The further we journey from Earth, the more we realise just how precious it truly is. Let us cherish and preserve this incredible planet we call home.”

In the video, Al Neyadi can be seen talking in Arabic and English.

He greeted everyone saying Assalamu alaikum (Peace be upon you) and said in Arabic that he would be showing the visuals of the Earth from the Cupola.

As he floated towards the Cupola, he encountered astronaut Koichi Wakata of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) from Crew-5 taking pictures from the Cupola.

After exchanging greetings, Al Neyadi told Wakata, “I am gonna share this moment with everybody!”

He said the ISS was over Africa as he captured the first visuals of the Earth.

“This is absolutely amazing,” he said.

“This is the best place we can monitor and see our beautiful planet,” he said, as he panned the camera across the Cupola.

He showed the Canadarm robotic arm fixed outside the ISS. “Yeah, we have the arm, the SRMS,” he said. The Canadarm is officially known as the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System or SRMS.

“All astronauts run towards the Cupola to watch Earth or see Earth from there. I want to do it differently. I want to go there with a camera, hopefully. So I want to share that moment with everybody. I want to capture that moment of looking back, back towards Earth with everybody. Yeah, so that’s probably the moment I’m looking forward to,” he had said in a NASA podcast.