The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced Saturday morning that Emirati astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi's scheduled return from the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed due to unfavorable weather conditions.

According to NASA and SpaceX, the next available undocking opportunity has been delayed to a later date no earlier than 3 September.

AlNeyadi, the first Arab astronaut deployed on a long-term space mission and the first to complete a spacewalk, will make the journey home after spending six months aboard the ISS.

The Emirati astronaut, together with NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, lifted off on March 2 in NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

On arrival, AlNeyadi will undergo several days of medical testing, evaluation, and mission debriefs in the US before returning home to the UAE.