Afghanistan's only astronaut Abdul Ahad Momand dies at 67 in Germany

Kabul,UPDATED: Jun 30, 2026 17:58 IST

Abdul Ahad Momand, Afghanistan's first and only citizen to travel to space, has died at the age of 67, his family and friends said. A national hero, he died of cancer on June 21 at a hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, where he had been living since leaving Afghanistan in 1992 during the civil war.

His death prompted tributes in Afghanistan, where many remembered him as a symbol of national pride. Former President Ashraf Ghani wrote on X: "I am deeply saddened by the sudden death of Afghanistan's first and only astronaut, Abdul Ahad Momand. I pray to God to grant Momand a high place in heaven, and I extend my deepest condolences to his wife, children, and other family members."

In 1988, Momand, then a 29-year-old air force pilot, was chosen for a Soviet space programme that sent representatives from allied countries into orbit at a time when Afghanistan was under Soviet control. After months of training, he flew aboard Soyuz TM-6 with Russian cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Polyakov and spent nine days in space carrying out scientific research on the Mir space station.

His return journey aboard Soyuz TM-5 was delayed by a day because of technical problems, leaving him and Lyakhov stranded in cramped conditions and at risk of running short of food and oxygen.

An Associated Press report from that time said Momand, whose surname was then spelt Mohmand, had highlighted his earlier role in a joint Soviet-Afghan military effort to end an insurgency in his homeland. The report quoted him as saying that he had flown hundreds of attack missions.

Before the launch, Momand told Sovietskaya Rossiya that his mission would help identify Afghanistan's mineral resources, assess hydroelectric potential, and study glaciers and earthquake risks, according to the AP report. The report also said he addressed Afghans in a televised message from orbit, saying that violence cannot be seen from outer space.

"I would like to believe that such will be the situation on the land inhabited by my brothers and sisters, on the land of our fathers and mothers who have suffered so much during the years of the war," he was quoted as saying.

Momand also carried and read from the Quran during the mission. Ghani said this introduced Afghanistan to the world "with national colors and national words" and presented its Islamic identity to the cosmos. "His nine days on the Mir space station made Afghans forget the bitterness of the civil wars of 1988 and the rest of that decade," Ghani added.

Momand was born in the Andar district of Ghazni province in southeastern Afghanistan and trained at military academies in Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. Funeral and memorial arrangements were not announced. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.

Momand's death has been met with sorrow in Afghanistan, where he is remembered both for his nine-day mission to the Mir space station and for the rare moment of unity and pride it brought to the country.

With PTI Inputs

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