Saudi astronauts meet crown prince before their space trip
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Salma Hossein
- . April 17, 2023
- . Update: April 17, 2023 10:40 pm
Rayyanah Barnawi, Ali Al-Qarni, Mariam Firdous, and Ali Al-Ghamdi, four Saudi astronauts, were welcomed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before the launch of the Kingdom’s scientific expedition to the International Space Station.
The crew of the AX-2 space mission, which is Axiom Space’s second all-private astronaut journey to the ISS, will include astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, Barnawi will be the first Muslim, Saudi, and Arab woman in space.
The Saudi people’s ability and desire to contribute to innovations and space research to develop long-term solutions for the benefit of humanity are embodied by the astronauts, according to the crown prince.
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Additionally, he stated that the astronauts serve as ambassadors and representatives of the Kingdom on the International Space Station (ISS) in order to empower people, safeguard the environment, and open up new frontiers through research that would be carried out there in the areas of environmental sustainability and health.
Barnawi and Al-Qarni declared that they are completely prepared for this historic journey and that they are looking forward to making contributions to the field of space exploration and enhancing human-beneficial scientific research.
From the ground station, Firdous and Al-Ghamdi will support Barnawi and Al-Qarni. On May 8, at 10:43 p.m. ET (or 05:43 a.m. KSA), a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The four-person crew will go to the ISS on a SpaceX Dragon spaceship and stay there for ten days. As a member of a US-led space mission in 1985, air force pilot Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz became the first Saudi to visit space.
