In a historic achievement, Elon Musk’s spacecraft manufacturing company successfully launched Saudi Arabia’s first astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday. Among the crew were Rayyanah Barnawi, a breast cancer researcher and the first Saudi woman to voyage into space, and Ali Al-Qarni, a fighter pilot.
During a recent press conference, Barnawi expressed her joy and honour in representing the region as the first Saudi woman astronaut. She eagerly anticipated conducting research onboard the ISS and looked forward to sharing her experience with children.
This mission marks Saudi Arabia’s continued pursuit of space exploration. In 1985, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz became the first Saudi astronaut to participate in a US-organised space voyage as an Air Force pilot.
The inclusion of a Saudi woman in this space mission highlights the progressive efforts of the oil-rich Gulf kingdom. The four-member team also included Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut, and John Shoffner, a businessman from Tennessee serving as a pilot. Whitson, with her wealth of experience, embarked on her fourth flight to the ISS.
The private mission was organised by Axiom Space, with the astronauts launching aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) crew is scheduled to spend approximately 10 days onboard the ISS.
During their time on the ISS, the team will conduct around 20 experiments, including studying the behaviour of stem cells in zero gravity. They will join the existing seven astronauts aboard the ISS, consisting of three Russians, three Americans, and Emirati astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi, who recently became the first Arab national to complete a spacewalk.
This mission to the ISS represents Axiom Space’s second partnership with ISS keyholder NASA. As a private space company, Axiom Space offers exclusive voyages for individuals willing to invest substantial sums, often amounting to millions of dollars, in the pursuit of space exploration and scientific advancements.
