UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi, Crew-6's Dragon spacecraft now above Dubai

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UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi, who has been cruising in the cosmos with his Crew-6 mates over the last 24 hours, is arriving today at the International Space Station (ISS) — his home for the next six months.

After the epic liftoff on Thursday morning, this officially becomes day 1 of the longest Arab space mission in history.

Khaleej Times is back on the ground to cover this landmark moment, bringing you real-time updates.

The spacecraft carrying AlNeyadi and his Crew-6 mates is now cruising above Dubai. Here's an image captured by the ISS.

The ISS and the Dragon spacecraft are now just 300m apart, which means they are both hovering above the Emirates at this point.

We are now 45 minutes from docking, and everything looks good, In a few minutes, ISS will be passing over the UAE.

Here's ISS view of the Dragon’s nosecone — the aerodynamic, protective top of the spaceship that provides the crew a nice view of space.

The ISS is currently 420km away from Earth, above Germany

Here's a view shared by the ISS. That speck of light? That's the Dragon!

.37am: Correctional burn done

Crew Dragon Endeavour has completed mid-course correction before it approaches the waypoint 0, or 400metres away from the ISS.

This precise point goes right underneath the station and it swings right out in front and goes above the ISS on the ‘’V Bar’ which is the docking access. They will be swinging up in front and above the station.

POV: When you are piloting your way to make space history...

Here's a look inside the Dragon spacecraft:

Nasa mission commander Stephen Bowen is on the left hand side and Nasa pilot Warren Hoburg on the right.

Now, the crew will remain strapped to their seats until docking is complete. They are monitoring the docking procedure which is done autonomously.

No damage was reported on the astronauts' suits during the standard checking procedure.

The suits were brought up to a certain pressure and then allowed to sit up there. Then, the amount of pressure or decay was assessed as per the measurements. The timing of this is very precise.

With this step, the crew can check for any leaks and perform mitigation strategies, if necessary.

SpaceX Crew-6 are now conducting suit check, in preparation for docking. The suits are ensured that they are pressurised. In case of cabin depress, the suits will serve as the “last line of defence”.

The arrival of SpaceX Crew-6 at the International Space Station is ahead of schedule today. The foursome aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour is now due to dock at 9:43am (UAE time), SpaceX tweeted on Friday.

UAE Sultan AlNeyadi and and his Crew-6 colleagues - NASA mission commander Stephen Bowen, NASA pilot Warren Hoburg, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev – lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 9.34am (UAE time) on Thursday.