H.E. Dr. Sultan Saif AlNeyadi is the UAE Minister of State for
Youth Affairs and the first Arab to serve on the International Space
Station (ISS) for a 6-month mission as part of Expedition 69.
Inducted into the UAE Cabinet in January 2024 by H.H. Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and
Ruler of Dubai, AlNeyadi was one of the two astronauts selected in the first batch of the
UAE Astronaut Programme launched in 2017.
During Expedition 69, AlNeyadi undertook the longest Arab space mission in history and
became the first Arab to conduct a spacewalk, lasting 7 hours and 1 minute. He completed
over 4,000 hours aboard the ISS, leading multiple research experiments with NASA, ESA,
CSA, JAXA, and CNES.
AlNeyadi holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from
the University of Brighton, a Master’s degree in IT from Griffith University, and a Ph.D. in
Information Technology.
