Abdul Ahad Mohmand


Abdul Ahad Mohmand is a former Afghan Air Force aviator who became the first Pashtun, first Afghan citizen and fourth Muslim 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 Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut. He holds many records as an Afghan Astronaut. During this mission,
Abdul Ahad Mohmand was the first cosmonaut to speak the Pashto language after he made a telephone call to Afghanistan, making it 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.

Biography

Mohmand was born sometime in 1959 in Sardeh Band, Andar District, within the Ghazni Province of Afghanistan. He belongs to the Mohmand tribe of the Pashtun ethnic group. After completing his initial schooling he entered the Polytechnical University of Kabul in 1976 at the age of 17, and graduated a year later before being drafted into the military in 1978. After being conscripted he was sent to the Soviet Union to train to become a pilot; there he studied at the Krasnodar Higher Air Force School and the Kiev Higher Air Force Engineering School before returning to Afghanistan in 1981, where he rose through the ranks from pilot, wing commander, and then chief navigator. He returned to the USSR 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 Intercosmos project. The other cosmonaut candidate from Afghan sent for training was Muhammad Dauran, a Tajik MiG-21 pilot with the rank of colonel. While Dauran had more political connections than Mohamnd and held a higher military rank, Dauran's appendicitis was the deciding factor in Momand being chosen for the primary crew; Dauran became part of the backup crew.
Along with Commander Vladimir Lyakhov and Flight Engineer Valery Polyakov, Mohmand 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, Momand took photographs of his country, participated in astrophysical, medical and biological experiments. He also spoke to Afghanistan’s president, Mohammed Najibullah, and brewed Afghan tea for the crew.
Lyakhov and Mohmand returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-5. The September 6 planned landing of Soyuz TM-5 was delayed because of mechanical complications on the Mir. Radio Moscow reassured listeners that Lyakhov and Mohmand were fine and in touch with Mission Control. However, their sanitation facilities were onboard 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, only live television pictures of Mission Control.
Mohmand was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 7 September 1988.
During his flight to space, his mother was extremely distraught over the safety of her son. Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah called Momand's mother into the President's office and arranged an audio/video conference between Mohmand and her. By this event, Pashto became the 5th language spoken in space.
On his return he was made Deputy Civil Aviation Minister, but was a short posting due to the failure of Soviet forces against the Mujahideen take over.
Following the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, Mohmand decided to emigrate to Germany in 1992 and applied for asylum there, becoming a German citizen in 2003. He worked in printing services and now as an accountant residing in Ostfildern near Stuttgart.

Footnotes