Abdul Ahad Momand (Pashto: عبدالاحد مومند; born 1959) is a German citizen and former Afghan Air Force aviator who became the first, and currently only, Afghan citizen 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 Momand 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.
1988Sep, 7
Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, returns aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-5 after nine days on the Mir space station.
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Events on 1988
- 14Apr
Soviet Union
In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. - 29May
Ronald Reagan
The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. - 15Nov
State of Palestine
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council. - 16Nov
Benazir Bhutto
In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan elect populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan. - 19Nov
Slobodan Milošević
Serbian communist representative and future Serbian and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević publicly declares that Serbia is under attack from Albanian separatists in Kosovo as well as internal treachery within Yugoslavia and a foreign conspiracy to destroy Serbia and Yugoslavia.