WILL SHE WEAR A HIJAB IN SPACE
Saudi Arabia To Send Its First Female Astronaut Into SpaceThe astronauts "will join the crew of the AX-2 space mission" and the space flight will "launch from the USA", the agency said.
Updated: February 14, 2023
Rayyana Barnawi will visit the International Space Station later this year.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
Saudi Arabia will send its first ever woman astronaut on a space mission later this year, state media has reported, in the latest move to revamp the kingdom's ultra-conservative image.
Rayyana Barnawi will join fellow Saudi male astronaut Ali Al-Qarni on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) "during the second quarter of 2023", the official Saudi Press Agency said on Sunday.
The astronauts "will join the crew of the AX-2 space mission" and the space flight will "launch from the USA", the agency said.
The oil-rich country will be following in the footsteps of the neighbouring United Arab Emirates which in 2019 became the first Arab country to send one of its citizens into space.
At the time, astronaut Hazzaa al-Mansoori spent eight days on the ISS. Another fellow Emirati, Sultan al-Neyadi, will also make a voyage later this month.
Nicknamed the "Sultan of Space", 41-year-old Neyadi will become the first Arab astronaut to spend six months in space when he blasts off for the ISS aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Gulf monarchies have been seeking to diversify their energy-reliant economies through a plethora of projects.
Saudi de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also been trying to shake off the kingdom's austere image through a push for reforms.
Since his rise to power in 2017, women have been allowed to drive and to travel abroad without a male guardian, and their proportion in the workforce has more than doubled since 2016, from 17 percent to 37 percent.
Saudi Arabia's foray into space is not the first, however.
In 1985, Saudi royal Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, an airforce pilot, took part in a US-organised space mission, becoming the first Arab Muslim to travel into space.
In 2018, Saudi Arabia set up a space programme and last year launched another to send astronauts into space, all part of Prince Salman's Vision 2030 agenda for economic diversification.
Rayyana Barnawi will visit the International Space Station later this year.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
Saudi Arabia will send its first ever woman astronaut on a space mission later this year, state media has reported, in the latest move to revamp the kingdom's ultra-conservative image.
Rayyana Barnawi will join fellow Saudi male astronaut Ali Al-Qarni on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) "during the second quarter of 2023", the official Saudi Press Agency said on Sunday.
The astronauts "will join the crew of the AX-2 space mission" and the space flight will "launch from the USA", the agency said.
The oil-rich country will be following in the footsteps of the neighbouring United Arab Emirates which in 2019 became the first Arab country to send one of its citizens into space.
At the time, astronaut Hazzaa al-Mansoori spent eight days on the ISS. Another fellow Emirati, Sultan al-Neyadi, will also make a voyage later this month.
Nicknamed the "Sultan of Space", 41-year-old Neyadi will become the first Arab astronaut to spend six months in space when he blasts off for the ISS aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Gulf monarchies have been seeking to diversify their energy-reliant economies through a plethora of projects.
Saudi de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also been trying to shake off the kingdom's austere image through a push for reforms.
Since his rise to power in 2017, women have been allowed to drive and to travel abroad without a male guardian, and their proportion in the workforce has more than doubled since 2016, from 17 percent to 37 percent.
Saudi Arabia's foray into space is not the first, however.
In 1985, Saudi royal Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, an airforce pilot, took part in a US-organised space mission, becoming the first Arab Muslim to travel into space.
In 2018, Saudi Arabia set up a space programme and last year launched another to send astronauts into space, all part of Prince Salman's Vision 2030 agenda for economic diversification.
Axiom’s U.S.-Saudi Crew Approved for Private Mission to Space Station
The Ax-2 crew includes, from left, Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. (Axiom Space Photos)
POSTED ON FEBRUARY 13, 2023 BY ALAN BOYLE
NASA and its international partners have approved the crew lineup for Axiom Space’s second privately funded mission to the International Space Station — a lineup that includes the first Saudi woman cleared to go into orbit.
Two of the former crew members — former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and John Shoffner, a Tennessee business executive, race car driver and aviator — had previously been announced.
They’ll be joined by Ali AlQarni and Rayyannah Barnawi, representing Saudi Arabia’s national astronaut program. Only one other Saudi citizen — Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, who flew on the space shuttle Discovery in 1985 — has ever been in space. The 10-day Axiom Space mission, known as Ax-2, is currently scheduled for this spring.
AlQarni, 31, is a Royal Saudi Air Force captain and fighter pilot, according to the Saudi Space Commission’s bio. Barnawi, 33, is a research laboratory specialist with nine years of experience in cancer stem cell research. Two other participants in the Saudi space program, Mariam Fardous and Ali AlGamdi, are being trained as backups.
The Saudi Space Commission says the Axiom Space mission “is an integral milestone of a comprehensive program aiming to train and qualify experienced Saudis to undertake human spaceflight, conduct scientific experiments, participate in international research, and future space-related missions contributing to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.”
Whitson already has her name in space history books as the first female commander of the International Space Station and the record-holder for the longest cumulative time in space by a NASA astronaut. She retired from NASA’s astronaut corps in 2018 and joined Axiom Space soon afterward.
Ax2 will make her the first female commander of a private-sector space mission. She’ll be the only one of the four crew members with previous space experience.
“I’m honored to be heading back to the station for the fourth time, leading this talented Ax-2 crew on their first mission,” Whitson said today in a NASA news release. “This is a strong and cohesive team determined to conduct meaningful scientific research in space and inspire a new generation about the benefits of microgravity. It’s a testament to the power of science and discovery to unify and build international collaboration.”
Houston-based Axiom Space sent three millionaire investors into orbit last April under the command of a former NASA astronaut. That marked the first time a U.S. company organized a space station tour for paying customers, but the trip wasn’t totally unprecedented: Russia’s Roscosmos space agency has supported similar ISS trips for deep-pocketed spacefliers since 2001, and the Inspiration4 space effort executed a philanthropic orbital mission (which didn’t stop at the space station) in September 2021.
Like Axiom Space’s first mission, the Ax-2 mission will use SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule to get the crew to and from the space station. The crew members for Ax-1 were each said to have paid a fare of roughly $55 million — and although the ticket price for Ax-2 hasn’t been announced, it’s likely to be in the same ballpark.
Axiom Space sees such missions as setting the stage for its own orbital outpost, which would start out as a module attached to the International Space Station and eventually become the core of a stand-alone commercial space station.
“Axiom Space’s second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station cements our mission of expanding access to space worldwide and supporting the growth of the low-Earth-orbit economy as we build Axiom Station,” Michael Suffredini, president and CEO of Axiom Space, said in a news release. “Ax-2 moves Axiom Space one step closer toward the realization of a commercial space station in low-Earth orbit and enables us to build on the legacy and achievements of the ISS, leveraging the benefits of microgravity to better life on Earth.”
The Ax-2 crew includes, from left, Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. (Axiom Space Photos)
POSTED ON FEBRUARY 13, 2023 BY ALAN BOYLE
NASA and its international partners have approved the crew lineup for Axiom Space’s second privately funded mission to the International Space Station — a lineup that includes the first Saudi woman cleared to go into orbit.
Two of the former crew members — former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and John Shoffner, a Tennessee business executive, race car driver and aviator — had previously been announced.
They’ll be joined by Ali AlQarni and Rayyannah Barnawi, representing Saudi Arabia’s national astronaut program. Only one other Saudi citizen — Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, who flew on the space shuttle Discovery in 1985 — has ever been in space. The 10-day Axiom Space mission, known as Ax-2, is currently scheduled for this spring.
AlQarni, 31, is a Royal Saudi Air Force captain and fighter pilot, according to the Saudi Space Commission’s bio. Barnawi, 33, is a research laboratory specialist with nine years of experience in cancer stem cell research. Two other participants in the Saudi space program, Mariam Fardous and Ali AlGamdi, are being trained as backups.
The Saudi Space Commission says the Axiom Space mission “is an integral milestone of a comprehensive program aiming to train and qualify experienced Saudis to undertake human spaceflight, conduct scientific experiments, participate in international research, and future space-related missions contributing to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.”
Whitson already has her name in space history books as the first female commander of the International Space Station and the record-holder for the longest cumulative time in space by a NASA astronaut. She retired from NASA’s astronaut corps in 2018 and joined Axiom Space soon afterward.
Ax2 will make her the first female commander of a private-sector space mission. She’ll be the only one of the four crew members with previous space experience.
“I’m honored to be heading back to the station for the fourth time, leading this talented Ax-2 crew on their first mission,” Whitson said today in a NASA news release. “This is a strong and cohesive team determined to conduct meaningful scientific research in space and inspire a new generation about the benefits of microgravity. It’s a testament to the power of science and discovery to unify and build international collaboration.”
Houston-based Axiom Space sent three millionaire investors into orbit last April under the command of a former NASA astronaut. That marked the first time a U.S. company organized a space station tour for paying customers, but the trip wasn’t totally unprecedented: Russia’s Roscosmos space agency has supported similar ISS trips for deep-pocketed spacefliers since 2001, and the Inspiration4 space effort executed a philanthropic orbital mission (which didn’t stop at the space station) in September 2021.
Like Axiom Space’s first mission, the Ax-2 mission will use SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule to get the crew to and from the space station. The crew members for Ax-1 were each said to have paid a fare of roughly $55 million — and although the ticket price for Ax-2 hasn’t been announced, it’s likely to be in the same ballpark.
Axiom Space sees such missions as setting the stage for its own orbital outpost, which would start out as a module attached to the International Space Station and eventually become the core of a stand-alone commercial space station.
“Axiom Space’s second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station cements our mission of expanding access to space worldwide and supporting the growth of the low-Earth-orbit economy as we build Axiom Station,” Michael Suffredini, president and CEO of Axiom Space, said in a news release. “Ax-2 moves Axiom Space one step closer toward the realization of a commercial space station in low-Earth orbit and enables us to build on the legacy and achievements of the ISS, leveraging the benefits of microgravity to better life on Earth.”
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