He became the first Emirati and Arab in space in his historic trip to the International Space Station. In October this year, Hazza Al Mansouri was part of a three member crew aboard the Russian Soyuz rocket which blasted off from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan. Mansouri described the mission as his “dream,” while Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said Al Mansouri’s arrival in space is “a message to all the Arab youth that we can move forward and move forward and catch up with others.”