Training & Mission:
In preparation for the mission to the ISS, AlMansoori trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre at Star City in Moscow, based on an agreement with Roscosmos. He also received training in Houston in Texas, and Cologne in Germany, as part of partnership agreements with major space agencies, including NASA, ESA, and JAXA.
The training programme for the ISS mission included comprehensive training on all sections and units of the ISS and how to use its devices and equipment, emergency fire drills, dealing with low pressure and ammonia leak inside the station, in addition to survival training if the capsule had to land in a cold forest.
AlMansoori was also trained on the spacesuit, weighing up to 10 kgs and how to wear at zero gravity. He also trained to perform daily tasks such as preparing food, how to use the camera to document events, taking pictures of the Earth, communicating with the ground stations, and other day-to-day tasks during the mission. AlMansoori underwent more than 90 courses, with the total number of training hours exceeding 1,400 hours.
AlMansoori further successfully completed his first year of training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 2021 and is currently ready to work as an operator onboard the International Space Station. He trained in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), passed evaluations which included using the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), maintenance of the International Space Station, the Incapacitated Crew Rescue (ICR), and completed theoretical and practical training sessions on the T-38 jet.
