Emirati astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri set for hero's return on Saturday

Emirati astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri will return to the UAE from Russia this weekend after captivating the Arab world with his historic flight to the International Space Station.

The 35-year-old will touchdown from Moscow on Saturday and is expected to be greeted by his family and space officials.

Reserve astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi will return on the same flight, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre said early on Thursday morning. More details of his return are expected later.

The two men have spent much of this year in Star City outside Moscow and later Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan preparing for the space mission and learning Russian, which is required for all Soyuz space missions.

Earlier, on Wednesday night, Maj Al Mansouri took part in a press conference in which he spoke hopefully of the next mission for Emirati astronauts.

"Now my mission is to transfer [my] knowledge and experience from my training in Star City and onboard the station to the next [astronaut] and I hope they will do better than me."

Asked what he would miss from his time on the ISS, he said: "My friends on-board the station; the [people] from international countries working together for mankind."

Hazza Al Mansouri's journey to space was only the beginning of space expeditions for the UAE, the country's first astronaut said on Wednesday.

At a press conference in Moscow, Russia, Maj Al Mansouri spoke of the significance of his eight-day mission to the International Space Station.

“Our message is really to create our own model in our country, in the Arab region, like we saw in Yuri Gagarin [the first man in space],” he said.

Referring to a "next time", Maj Al Mansouri said he hoped another Emirati would have also the opportunity to go to space.

"Now my mission is to transfer [my] knowledge and experience from my training in Star City and onboard the station to the next [astronaut] and I hope they will do better than me."

The National