Abdul Ahad Momand

Abdul Ahad Momand (عبدالاحد مومند; born 1959) is an Afghan-German and former Afghan Air Force aviator who became the first, and currently only, Afghan astronaut to journey to outer space. He became one of Soyuz TM-6 crew members and spent nine days aboard the Mir space station in 1988 as an Interkosmos research cosmonaut.

Momand holds many records as an Afghan astronaut. He became the first person to take the Quran to space and recite it there. When he spoke to his mother on the phone from space, Pashto became the fourth language to be officially spoken in space. He became the first Afghan citizen and the fourth Muslim to visit outer space, after Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, Muhammed Faris, and Musa Manarov.

Early years
Momand was born sometime in 1959 in Sardeh Band, Andar District, within the Ghazni Province of Afghanistan. He belongs to the Momand tribe of the Pashtun ethnic group. After completing his education in Habibia High School, he entered the Kabul Polytechnic University in 1976 at the age of 17, and graduated two years later before being drafted into the military in 1978.

Career
Momand was then sent to the Soviet Union for pilot training. There, he studied at the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots and the Kiev Higher Air Force Engineering School before returning to Afghanistan in 1981, where he rose through the ranks, becoming a chief navigator at Bagram Air Base. He returned to the Soviet Union in 1984 to train at the Gagarin Air Force Academy. Not long after graduating in 1987, he was selected as a cosmonaut candidate for the Interkosmos project. The other cosmonaut candidate sent for training was Mohammad Dawran, an Afghan MiG-21 pilot with the rank of Colonel. While Dawran had more political connections than Momand and held a higher military rank (since Momand was a captain at the time), Dawran's appendicitis was the deciding factor in Momand being chosen for the primary crew. Dawran then became part of the backup crew for Momand's mission.

Along with Commander Vladimir Lyakhov and Flight Engineer Valery Polyakov, Momand was part of the Soyuz TM-6 three-man crew, which launched at 04:23 GMT 29 August 1988. Momand's inclusion in the mission was a significant symbol during the Soviet–Afghan War.

During his nine days stay on the Mir space station in 1988, Momand took photographs of his country, participated in astrophysical, medical and biological experiments. He also spoke to then-President Mohammad Najibullah of Afghanistan, and brewed Afghan tea for the crew. Momand was also recorded reciting the Quran in space at the request of the Afghan Government while his legs were held by another crew member outside of the shot to prevent him from floating away.

Lyakhov and Momand returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-5. The 6 September planned landing of Soyuz TM-5 was delayed because of mechanical complications on the Mir. Radio Moscow reassured listeners that Lyakhov and Momand were fine and in touch with Mission Control. However, their sanitation facilities were on board the jettisoned orbital module and consequently they soiled themselves during the delay. A recording, colloquially called the der’mo tape, was played of them laughing about this. A day later, the retro-fire was successful, and at 00:50 GMT Soyuz TM-5 landed near Dzhezkazgan. During touchdown, there was no live radio coverage, but only live television pictures of Mission Control.

As Momand returned to Afghanistan, he was greeted by a large crowd that threw flowers at him, as the Mujahideen fired a barrage of rockets towards the city of Kabul. The city was the site of 25 separate rocket attacks in a single day, resulting in 35 dead and 165 injured.

Momand was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on 7 September 1988 as well as the Hero of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Order of Lenin.

During his flight to space, his mother was extremely distraught over the safety of her son. President Najibullah called Momand's mother into the President's office and arranged an audio/video conference between Momand and her. By this event, Pashto became the fourth language spoken in space. On his return, he was made deputy minister of civil aviation.

Momand was in India sorting out a complaint regarding Ariana Airlines during the collapse of Najibullah's government in 1992. Momand decided to emigrate to Germany, and applied for asylum there, becoming a German citizen via naturalisation in 2003. He worked in the printing service and is now an accountant residing in Ostfildern near Stuttgart. He received the Russian Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" in 2010. He returned to Afghanistan in 2013, at the request of then-President Hamid Karzai, for the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his space mission as shown in the BBC Persian documentary “Kabul to the Galaxy” (Persian: کابل تا کهکشان, Kābul tā Kahkešān).

Personal life
Momand is married to Zulfara and has 2 daughters and a son. Momand is fluent in 4 languages, Pashto, Persian, Russian and German.