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]
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.[13] 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.[14]
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.[15]
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.[16]
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.[17]
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.[18] He worked in the printing service and is now an accountant residing in Ostfildern near Stuttgart.[18][19] He received the RussianMedal "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[17] as shown in the BBC Persian documentary “Kabul to the Galaxy” (Persian: کابل تا کهکشان, Kābul tā Kahkešān).[20]
Personal life
Momand is married to Zulfara and has 2 daughters and a son.[14] Momand is fluent in 4 languages, Pashto, Persian, Russian and German.[21]
^ abMeinhardt, 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.
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