Jewish and Arab astronauts blast off for International Space Station

Emirati, American and Russian astronauts have taken off for the International Space Station.

UAE’s Hazzaa al-Mansoori, 35, blasts into space accompanied by Russia’s Oleg Skripochka and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir — a Swedish-American Jew whose father is Israeli — onboard a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Mansoori is set to return to Earth with NASA’s Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin on October 3. Skripochka and Meir are set to remain on the ISS until the spring of 2020.

Mansoori will be the first Emirati astronaut and the first Arab on the orbiting laboratory, but not the first Muslim.

— with AFP

3-2-1… LIFTOFF! ???? At 9:57am ET, @Astro_Jessica ????????, cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka ???????? & spaceflight participant Hazzaa Ali Almansoori ???????? launched on a journey to their new home aboard the @Space_Station. Tune in: https://t.co/x0oE4sFcsu pic.twitter.com/ETKVudGbNe

— NASA (@NASA) September 25, 2019