Abdul Ahad Momand, Afghanistan's First and Only Astronaut, Dies at 67

Abdul Ahad Momand, the first citizen of Afghanistan to travel to space, has died at the age of 67 after a battle with cancer. His family confirmed that he passed away on June 21, 2026, in a hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, where he had lived for more than half of his life.

Momand was selected in 1988 to train for spaceflight under the Soviet Union's Interkosmos program, a project that flew representatives from communist states to promote international cooperation. After being chosen from over 400 candidates alongside fellow Afghan Mohammad Dawran, Momand was ultimately selected as the primary flyer after Dawran was sidelined by appendicitis. On August 29, 1988, he launched aboard Soyuz TM-6 with Russian cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Polyakov, arriving at the Mir space station three days later.

During his five days on Mir, Momand conducted medical and biological studies, photographed Earth—including his home country—and spoke with then-Afghan President Mohammad Najibullah. He also became the first person to speak Pashto from space and the first to carry and read the Quran while in orbit. He prepared traditional Afghan tea for his crewmates. Momand returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-5 on September 6, 1988, after a tense 24-hour delay caused by a sensor problem that disrupted the deorbit burn. His mission lasted eight days, 20 hours and 26 minutes.

Born Abdul Ahad Mohmand in the town of Sardeh Band, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, around 1959, he graduated from Kabul Polytechnic University in 1976 and later trained as a pilot in the Soviet Union. After his spaceflight, he served as deputy minister of civil aviation for the Afghan government. When civil war broke out, he was in India and subsequently moved with his family to Germany, where he was granted asylum.

Momand's death has prompted widespread mourning in Afghanistan. Many citizens and social media users have described him as a national honor and an inspiration. His family said in a statement, "To us, the late Abdulahad Momand was a loving, compassionate father and a steadfast pillar of support for the entire family. Through this great achievement, he inscribed the name of Afghanistan in the realm of global space exploration and became a source of pride and an inspiration for generations of his fellow countrymen."