One small step for man… One giant leap for Jiu-Jitsu?
Astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, native of United Arab Emirates (UAE), has took off to his country’s first long duration space mission.
Al Neyadi is also a long-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, who’s been training for around seven years!
And do you know what he brought with himself to the spacecraft? His gi!
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Al Neyadi was one of only two people who were selected – from 4,022 candidates – to become the first UAE astronauts. He went under a series of physical and mental tests in the UAE and Russia, after which we was a part of the UAE Astronaut Programme at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre.
The 41-year-old’s first venture in space was in March 2023, on NASA’s crew rotation flight.
And now, Al Neyadi – who has been navigating in the universe with his Crew-6 colleagues over the last 24 hours – has recently entered the International Space Station (ISS), which will be his home for the next six months.
لحظات تاريخية!
رائد الفضاء سلطان النيادي يدخل الآن إلى محطة الفضاء الدولية، ليبدأ أطول مهمة فضائية في تاريخ العرب، والتي ستمتد لـ6 أشهر.#طموح_زايد #أطول_مهمة_فضائية_في_تاريخ_العرب pic.twitter.com/tomrYxMzkX
— MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) March 3, 2023
In one interview, Al Neyadi credited Jiu-Jitsu for being in such a good physical and mental shape:
I have trained in Jiu-Jitsu for almost seven years now and the benefits that the sport brought me were clearly visible during our training process.
I was flexible, had good physical strength and was able to focus mentally for long periods.
Sultan Al Neyadi “practicing” his throws with a spacesuit
