Abdul Ahad Momand, the first and only Afghan to travel to space, died of cancer on June 21, 2026, at the age of 66 or 67. Born in 1959 in Sardeh Band, Ghazni Province, Momand’s journey from a rural Afghan village to orbiting Earth was shaped by Cold War geopolitics and marked by a message of peace for his country.

Momand’s historic spaceflight took place on August 29, 1988, aboard the Soviet Soyuz TM-6 spacecraft bound for the Mir space station. The mission came near the end of the Soviet–Afghan War, during a period when the Soviet Union was preparing to withdraw military forces from Afghanistan under the Geneva Accords. His selection was part of the Soviet Interkosmos program, designed to include cosmonauts from allied socialist and friendly states.

A pilot in the Afghan air force, Momand was chosen from around 400 applicants due to his Soviet-style training, combat experience, and loyalty, despite lacking political connections. His closest rival for the mission, Mohammad Dauran, was sidelined by sudden illness. The mission’s timing was closely linked to the ongoing conflict, with Soviet officials seeking to highlight Afghan–Soviet cooperation before the complete troop withdrawal.

During the nine-day mission aboard Mir, Momand took photographs of Afghanistan to help identify natural resource deposits and earthquake-prone areas, an effort framed by Soviet authorities as supporting Afghanistan’s economy. From orbit, he expressed a profound sense of responsibility as a representative of the Afghan people and made a televised appeal for peace, urging Afghans to lay down arms and resolve conflicts through dialogue. He also became the first person to recite a Quranic prayer in space, wearing a skullcap to affirm his Muslim faith in a gesture aimed at countering accusations of atheism by the Afghan government.

The return to Earth was fraught with technical challenges. Intense sunlight caused a computer malfunction, forcing an aborted landing and leaving the crew stranded for 25 hours on Mir in cramped quarters with limited life support. A second computer error nearly resulted in abandoning the spacecraft’s fuel and batteries critical for re-entry, but swift action by the crew averted disaster. The group safely landed on September 7, 1988, in Kazakhstan.

Back in Afghanistan, Momand received national recognition, including the title Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin. His spaceflight was portrayed by the Soviet-backed government as a symbol of Afghan unity amid ongoing conflict. However, violence persisted after Soviet troop withdrawal, and when Najibullah’s regime collapsed in 1992, Momand sought asylum in Germany due to the threat posed by rising mujahidin factions.

In exile, Momand worked outside his original profession, including roles in academia and accounting. Despite being a celebrated figure, he never fully returned to aviation or space-related work. He visited Afghanistan only once after leaving, in 2013, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his space mission and renew his call for peace.

Following his death, Momand’s remains were repatriated to Kabul, where the Taliban-led government held a public funeral honoring his 1988 space mission as a lasting national achievement. Throughout his life, Momand reflected on the beauty of Earth from space and maintained a message of hope and peace for his homeland.