India, June 30 -- Abdul Ahad Momand, Afghanistan's first and only astronaut, has died at the age of 67 after battling cancer. He passed away on June 21 at a hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, where he had been living since leaving Afghanistan during the country's civil war in 1992.

Momand is remembered as a national hero for becoming the first Afghan to travel to space. In 1988, at the age of 29, the former Afghan Air Force pilot was selected to participate in the Soviet Union's Intercosmos programme, which enabled astronauts from allied nations to undertake space missions.

After months of training, Momand launched aboard Soyuz TM-6 alongside Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakhov and Valery Polyakov. During the mission, he spent nine days abo...