CAPE CANAVERAL (United States) — The second-ever private mission to the International Space Station (ISS), organized by Axiom Space, blasted off from the southern US state of Florida on Sunday (May 21), carrying the first two Saudi astronauts to travel to the orbiting laboratory.
Ms Rayyanah Barnawi, a breast cancer researcher, is the first Saudi woman to voyage into space and is joined on the mission by fellow Saudi Mr Ali Al-Qarni, a fighter pilot.
"Thanks for putting your trust in the Falcon 9 team," SpaceX chief engineer Bill Gerstenmaier told the crew minutes after lift-off. She added that, aside from the research she will carry out on board, she was looking forward to sharing her experience on the ISS with kids. "It is a great opportunity for me to pursue this kind of passion that I have, and now maybe just fly among the stars."In 1985, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, an air force pilot, took part in a US-organised space voyage.
Scores of flag-waving Saudis gathered at the launch party in Riyadh beneath a massive white tent for the blast-off countdown. They will join seven others already aboard the ISS: three Russians, three Americans, and an Emirati astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi, who last month became the first Arab national to go on a spacewalk.The private space company offers the voyages for sums that run into the millions of dollars.
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