Interkosmos - Soviet Guest Cosmonaut / Foreign Cooperation Program

[Grey Havoc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interkosmos

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26648270

In 1988, just as the Soviet army was preparing to pull out of Afghanistan, a rocket blasted off carrying the first and only Afghan to travel into space. Abdulahad Momand returned to earth a hero - but within three years he was forced to flee the country.

"When I was little I used to look up at the sky. Sometimes planes would appear overhead and I would think how great it would be if I could fly," says Momand.

He is remembering a childhood in Afghanistan half a century ago.

Sure enough, he became a fighter pilot in the Afghan air force, and this opened the door to another opportunity the young Ahad could never have imagined.

He was selected from more than 400 candidates to be the first Afghan to join the Soviet space programme, and moved at the age of 29 to the Cosmonauts' Training Centre in Star City, outside Moscow.

The Soyuz crew and back-up team