VIDEO: SpaceX rocket carrying Saudi astronauts blasts off into space
The Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon capsule lifts off from Kennedy Space Center. Reuters
Gulf Today Report
A mission to the International Space Station (ISS) organized by Axiom Space blasted off from Florida, carrying two Saudi astronauts — including the first Saudi woman in space.
Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni are accompanied by two other crew members, former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and American entrepreneur John Shoffner.
This mission comes as part of a scientific expedition that will achieve a positive impact that contributes to the service of humanity.
The four astronauts will stay for eight days aboard the ISS.
They aim to conduct 20 research projects.
Among them are 14 projects developed by Saudi scientists, covering various areas such as human physiology, cell biology, and technology development.
Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al Qarni, with their crew Peggy Whitson and John Shoffner aborad the Dragon Capsule. Reuters
A massive crowd reacts at the moment of the launch of the mission in Riyadh.
Rayyanah Barnawi, a breast cancer researcher, will become the first Saudi woman to voyage into space and will be joined on the mission by fellow Saudi Ali Al-Qarni, a fighter pilot.
The Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) crew will take off aboard a spaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy space Center at Cape Canaveral in the southern state of Florida at 5:37 pm (1.37am UAE Time) (2137 GMT).
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The team also includes Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who will be making her fourth flight to the ISS, and John Shoffner, a businessman from Tennessee who will serve as pilot.
They are due to spend around 10 days on board the ISS, where they should arrive around 1:30 pm on Monday.
"Being the first Saudi woman astronaut, representing the region, it's a great pleasure and honor that I'm very happy to carry," said Barnawi at a recent press conference.
Picture used for illustrative purposes only.
"Being able to see their faces when they see astronauts from their own region for the first time is very thrilling," she said.
A career fighter pilot, Al-Qarni said he has "always had the passion of exploring the unknown and just admiring the sky and the stars."
"It is a great opportunity for me to pursue this kind of passion that I have, and now maybe just fly among the stars."
The mission is not Saudi Arabia's first foray into space.
In 1985, Prince Sultan bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz, an air force pilot, took part in a US-organized space voyage.
But the space mission involving a Saudi woman is the latest move by the oil-rich Gulf kingdom, where women only gained the right to drive a few years ago, to revamp its ultraconservative image.
The kingdom established the Saudi space Commission in 2018 and launched a program last year to send astronauts into space.
