Dubai shines in stunning photo taken from space

Dubai residents on Wednesday got a surprise gift from UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi—a breathtaking night view of the emirate from the International Space Station (ISS).

AlNeyadi, who recently accomplished the first spacewalk for the Arab world, posted a night shot of Dubai's shoreline taken from 400km above Earth.

Tweeting the image, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and President of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, the agency behind the UAE Astronaut Programme, said the “awe-inspiring photograph paints a picture of the nation's extraordinary achievements both on Earth and beyond.”

The amazing photo also caught the eye of the emirate's Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who said it "paints a picture of the nation's extraordinary achievements both on Earth and beyond".

The ‘Sultan of Space,’ who is on the longest Arab space mission on the ISS, had shared the spectacular image on social media with the hashtag #MyDubai and emojis of sparkling stars and a white heart.

“Dubai shines almost as bright as the stars up here,” he wrote in the description for the image, which vividly shows the brightly lit Palm Jumeirah and other developments on the coastline of the emirate.

Sharing stunning videos and photos of Earth from his temporary home for six months is one of the activities that the ‘Najmonaut’ loves to do. Najmonaut is a coinage of the Arabic word Najm and astronaut to refer to an Arab astronaut. Najm means star in Arabic.