Saturday, July 18, 2026

A00078 - Abdul Ahad Momand, First Afghan to Travel into Space

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Colonel
Abdul Ahad Momand
عبدالاحد مومند
Born1959
Sardeh Band, Andar District, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan
Died21 June 2026 (aged 66–67)
Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
CitizenshipAfghanistan • Germany (since 2003)
Alma materHabibia High School
Kabul Polytechnic University
Occupations
Political party
PDPA
SpouseZulfara
Children3
Awards
Space career
Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut
Time in space
8d 20h 26min
Selection1988
MissionsMir EP-3 (Soyuz TM-6/Soyuz TM-5)
Mission insignia
 
Military career
Allegiance Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
Branch
 Afghan Air Force
Service years
1978–1992
Rank
 Colonel

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Abdul Ahad Mohmand (born January 1?, 1959, Sardah, Afghanistan—died June 21, 2026, Stuttgart, Germany) was an Afghan pilot and cosmonaut, the first Afghan citizen to travel into space.

Mohmand was educated in Afghanistan and later attended the Gagarin Military Air Academy in Monino, U.S.S.R. (now Russia), in 1987. After graduation, Mohmand served in the Afghan air force, eventually reaching the rank of colonel.

In February 1988, Mohmand became a cosmonaut candidate for a flight to the Mir space station. Mohmand was originally the backup to another Afghan cosmonaut, Mohammad Dauran Ghulam Masum, on the Soyuz TM-6 mission, but he replaced Masum on the primary flight crew when the latter was disqualified owing to appendicitis. After completing his cosmonaut training, Mohmand launched into space as a research cosmonaut on August 29, 1988, with two Soviet cosmonauts, commander Vladimir Lyakhov and research doctor Valery Polyakov. At the Mir space station, Mohmand conducted joint research experiments with Lyakhov and Polyakov and made observations of Afghanistan from space. Mohmand and Lyakhov left Mir on September 6 aboard Soyuz TM-5. The initial landing attempt failed owing to sunlight interference that caused confusion in the infrared horizon sensors. Lyakhov ordered the computer to make another retrofire attempt, which was unsuccessful. Mohmand had been trained not to disturb Lyakhov when flying the Soyuz. However, Mohmand noticed that the Soyuz computer was proceeding with the first landing attempt and was one minute away from jettisoning the rocket engine that they would need to return to Earth. Mohmand pointed this out to Lyakhov, who stopped the descent program. The crew spent another 24 hours under difficult and dangerous conditions in the descent module before succeeding in their last-chance deorbit and returning safely to Earth on September 7. Mohmand spent nearly nine days in space and was awarded the Order of Lenin and the title Hero of the Soviet Union.

Because it occurred at the height of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Mohmand’s flight to Mir and his status as the first Afghan citizen in space (aboard a Soviet spacecraft) carried significant symbolic importance. After the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, Mohmand became a political refugee. He eventually settled in Stuttgart, Germany, and became a German citizen.

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Abdul Ahad Momand (Pashto: عبدالاحد مومند; 1959 – 21 June 2026) was an Afghan cosmonaut and aviator. He became the first, and so far the only, Afghan citizen to journey to outer space.[4] He was one of Soyuz TM-6's crew members and spent nine days aboard the Mir space station in 1988 as an Interkosmos research cosmonaut.[5]

Momand is a holder of many records as an Afghan cosmonaut. He became the first person to take the Quran to space and recite it there.[6] When he spoke to his mother on the phone from space, Pashto became the fourth language to be officially[clarification needed] spoken in space.[7] 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.

Following the collapse of Mohammad Najibullah's left-wing government, amidst the civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal, Momand emigrated to Germany in 1992, where he was granted asylum. He subsequently lived in Ostfildern, near Stuttgart, and worked as a printer and as an accountant. He became a German citizen in 2003.

Early years

Momand was born sometime in 1959[a][8] in Sardeh Band, Andar District, within the Ghazni Province of Afghanistan.[9] He belonged 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.[7]

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.[7] 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.[10]

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.[11] Momand's inclusion in the mission was a significant symbol during the Soviet–Afghan War.[12]

During his nine days stay on the Mir space station in 1988, Momand took photographs of his country and participated in astrophysical, medical, and biological experiments.[13] He also spoke to then-President Mohammad Najibullah of Afghanistan, and brewed Afghan tea for the crew.[14] 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.[15]

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.[16]

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.[17]

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.[2]

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.[11][7] On his return, he was made deputy minister of civil aviation.[18]

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 by naturalisation in 2003.[19] He worked in the printing service and subsequently became an accountant residing in Ostfildern near Stuttgart.[19][20] 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[18] as shown in the BBC Persian documentary “Kabul to the Galaxy” (Persian: کابل تا کهکشان, Kābul tā Kahkešān).[21]

Personal life and death

Momand was married to Zulfara and had two daughters and a son.[15] He was fluent in four languages: Pashto, Persian, Russian and German.[22]

Momand died of cancer in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on 21 June 2026.[23][24]

See also

Footnotes

  1.  Momand's parents, like many Afghans, did not know the exact date he was born and hence indicated his date of birth as the first day of the year.

References

  1.  Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 12 апреля 2011 года № 437 «О награждении медалью „За заслуги в освоении космоса“ иностранных граждан» Archived 2012-02-10 at the Wayback Machine.
  2.  "Моманд Абдул Ахад" (in Russian). Hero of the Soviet Union. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  3.  "Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lyakhov right and Afghan astronaut Hero of the Soviet Union Abdul Ahad Momand left Stock Photo - Alamy". www.alamy.com. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  4.  "Afghanistan Needs the BSA: Momand". TOLOnews. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  5.  "afghan-network.net". www.afghan-network.net. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  6.  "Afghan Astronaut Who Took Copies of Quran to Space". International Quran News Agency. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  7.  "فضا ته د بشر د سفر نړیواله ورځ: 'پښتو څلورمه ژبه ده چې فضا کې ویل شوې'". BBC Pashto. 12 April 2024. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  8.  Burgess & Vis 2015, p. 252.
  9.  Lesnikov, Vasily (2017). Космическое время "Мира" (in Russian). Litres. p. 97. ISBN 978-5-457-03913-1.
  10.  Burgess & Vis 2015, p. 252-256.
  11.  Burgess & Vis 2015, p. 258.
  12.  Burgess & Vis 2015, p. 263.
  13.  Sandomir, Richard (29 June 2026). "Abdul Ahad Momand, Only Afghan to Fly in Space, Is Dead". The New York Times. ISSN 1553-8095. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  14.  Burgess & Vis 2015, p. 258-259.
  15.  Norton, Jenny (23 March 2014). "Afghanistan's first spaceman returns home". BBC News. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  16.  Burgess & Vis 2015, p. 261.
  17.  "Afghanistan's first spaceman returns home". BBC News. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  18.  Zurutuza, Karlos (4 August 2021). "When an Afghan traveled to outer space". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  19.  Meinhardt, Birk (1–2 April 2010). "Mister Universum". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Munich. p. 3. Er ist der einzige Afghane, der je ins All fliegen durfte. Von dort sah Abdulahad [sic] Momand die Erde und war sehr stolz um sie. Zurück auf dem Boden aber mußte er aus seiner Heimat fliehen – und sich durch die deutsche Welt kämpfen.
  20.  Burgess & Vis 2015, p. 264.
  21.  مستند از کابل تا کهکشان. Retrieved 6 May 2024 – via www.youtube.com.
  22.  Советско-афганский космический полет. Время. Эфир 7 сентября 1988, 6 September 2021, retrieved 27 July 2023
  23.  "عبدالاحد مومند، نخستین فضانورد افغان در آلمان درگذشت". Amu TV (in Persian). 21 June 2026. Retrieved 21 June 2026.
  24.  قدوسی, ستاره (21 June 2026). "عبدالاحد مومند، نخستین فضانورد کشور در آلمان درگذشت". تلویزیون آمو (in Persian). Retrieved 21 June 2026.

Bibliography

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