Mohmand, Abdul Ahad

Abdul Ahad Mohmand, (born Jan. 1, 1959, Sardah, Afg.), 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 Aug. 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, Ger., and became a German citizen.