Abdul Ahad Momand Remembered as Afghanistan's First Cosmonaut Hayatullah.Rahimi Tue, 06/23/2026 - 03:29 Author Hadia Ziaei Afghanistan Abdul Ahad Momand, Afghanistan’s first cosmonaut, passed away on Sunday after battling cancer. Momand was the first Afghan and the fourth Muslim in history to travel to space. In 1988, he spent nine days aboard the Soviet Union’s Mir space station.