We use essential cookies and third-party cookies for content.

Volkswacht Bodensee - May 8 launch for private mission to ISS with Saudi astronauts

Volkswacht Bodensee
×
NYSE - LSE
BCE -1.9% 21.62 $
NGG -3.33% 83.15 $
BCC -5% 70.24 $
RELX -3.19% 40.17 $
RBGPF 0% 75.17 $
RIO 0.68% 83.73 $
RYCEF 0.3% 16.43 $
CMSC -0.35% 20.05 $
GSK -0.16% 50.33 $
CMSD -0.1% 20.15 $
BTI -3.6% 60.89 $
BP -0.38% 44.53 $
AZN -0.23% 186.43 $
JRI 1.81% 11.63 $
VOD -2.37% 15.58 $
May 8 launch for private mission to ISS with Saudi astronauts
May 8 launch for private mission to ISS with Saudi astronauts / Photo: © NASA TV/AFP

May 8 launch for private mission to ISS with Saudi astronauts

POLITICS 06.04.2023

Two astronauts from Saudi Arabia, including the first Saudi woman, will blast off from Florida on May 8 on a private mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Axiom Space and NASA officials said Thursday.

Text size:

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.

Also on board will be 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.

Liftoff of Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for 10:43 pm Eastern Time on May 8 (0243 GMT on May 9) from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Axiom Space and NASA officials said in a briefing to preview the flight.

The four-member crew will travel to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule and spend 10 days aboard the orbiting space station.

The mission to the ISS will be the second by Axiom Space, a private space company.

Axiom Space carried out its first private astronaut mission to the ISS in April 2022. Four astronauts spent 17 days in orbit as part of Ax-1.

The space mission involving a Saudi woman is the latest move by the kingdom to revamp its ultra-conservative image.

But it is not the oil-rich kingdom'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.

The neighboring United Arab Emirates has also taken part in space missions and an Emirati astronaut, Sultan al-Neyadi, arrived on the ISS a month ago for a six-month stay.

E.Schubert--BTB

Featured

South African election results renew debate over identity-based voting

South African election results renew debate over identity-based voting
Post-election pressures complicate US and Israeli decisions on Iran

Post-election pressures complicate US and Israeli decisions on Iran
South African voters report smoother local election but declining IEC trust

South African voters report smoother local election but declining IEC trust
Labour and National remain virtually tied as New Zealand vote count advances

Labour and National remain virtually tied as New Zealand vote count advances