The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Abdul Ahad Momand, the first Afghan to travel to space, was buried in Kabul on Monday after his body was returned from Germany, where he died last week following a battle with cancer. He was 67.
Momand’s body arrived in Kabul from Munich on Monday morning and was received at the airport by Taliban officials, family members, friends and mourners.
Funeral prayers were held at Kabul’s Eidgah Mosque before he was laid to rest at Tapa-e-Maranjan cemetery.
Taliban officials attending the funeral described Momand’s death as a major loss for Afghanistan, paying tribute to his contributions to the country’s history and scientific achievements.
Born in 1959 in the Andar district of Ghazni province, Momand studied in Kabul before receiving pilot training in the former Soviet Union. He later joined the Afghan Air Force.
In 1988, Momand flew aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft to the Mir space station, becoming the first Afghan and the fourth Muslim to travel to space. His mission made him one of Afghanistan’s best-known figures in science and aviation and secured his place in the history of human spaceflight.
Momand later settled in Stuttgart, Germany. He died last week at a hospital in Germany after undergoing treatment for cancer for several years.
