Abdul Ahad Mohmand

Early years Momand was born sometime in 1959 in Sardeh Band, Andar District, within the Ghazni Province of Afghanistan. He belonged to the Momand tribe of the Pashtun ethnic group. After completing his education in Habibia High School, he entered the Kabul Polytechnic University in 1976 at the age of 17, and graduated two years later before being drafted into the military in 1978. He also spoke to then-President Mohammad Najibullah of Afghanistan, and brewed Afghan tea for the crew. Momand was also recorded reciting the Quran in space at the request of the Afghan Government while his legs were held by another crew member outside of the shot to prevent him from floating away.

Lyakhov and Momand returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-5. The 6 September planned landing of Soyuz TM-5 was delayed because of mechanical complications on the Mir. Radio Moscow reassured listeners that Lyakhov and Momand were fine and in touch with Mission Control. However, their sanitation facilities were on board the jettisoned orbital module and consequently they soiled themselves during the delay. A recording, colloquially called the der’mo tape, was played of them laughing about this. A day later, the retro-fire was successful, and at 00:50 GMT Soyuz TM-5 landed near Dzhezkazgan. During touchdown, there was no live radio coverage, but only live television pictures of Mission Control.

As Momand returned to Afghanistan, he was greeted by a large crowd that threw flowers at him, as the Mujahideen fired a barrage of rockets towards the city of Kabul. The city was the site of 25 separate rocket attacks in a single day, resulting in 35 dead and 165 injured.

Momand was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on 7 September 1988 as well as the Hero of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Order of Lenin.

During his flight to space, his mother was extremely distraught over the safety of her son. President Najibullah called Momand's mother into the President's office and arranged an audio/video conference between Momand and her. By this event, Pashto became the fourth language spoken in space.

Momand was in India sorting out a complaint regarding Ariana Airlines during the collapse of Najibullah's government in 1992. Momand decided to emigrate to Germany, and applied for asylum there, becoming a German citizen by naturalisation in 2003. He received the Russian Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" in 2010. He returned to Afghanistan in 2013, at the request of then-President Hamid Karzai, for the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his space mission

Personal life and death Momand was married to Zulfara and had two daughters and a son.

Momand died of cancer in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on 21 June 2026.