The first Saudi Arabian astronauts in decades were sent to the International Space Station on a private flight on Monday.
The SpaceX company released the crew that had bought the ticket, led by a retired NASA astronaut, who now works for the company that organized the trip. Also on board is an American businessman, who is now a sponsor of a sports car racing team.
The four are due to arrive at the space station in their capsule on Monday morning and will spend just over a week there before returning home after landing off the coast of the US state of Florida.
Sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government, Rayyanah Barnawi, a stem cell researcher, became the kingdom’s first woman to travel into space. She was joined by Ali al-Qarni, a fighter pilot in the Royal Saudi Air Force.
They are the first in their country to travel on a rocket since a Saudi prince was launched aboard the shuttle Discovery in 1985. As a matter of chance, they will be met at the station by an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates.
“This is a dream come true for everyone,” Barnawi said before the flight. “Just the fact that we can understand that this is possible. If Ali and I can do it, so can they,” he declared.
Rounding out the visiting team are John Shoffner of Knoxville, Tennessee, a former driver and promoter for a sports car racing team that competes in Europe, and his partner Peggy Whitson, the first female station commander to hold the US record. longest accumulated time in space: 665 days and counting.
This is the second private flight to the space station organized by Houston-based Axiom Space. The first was carried out last year by three businessmen, with another retired NASA astronaut. The company plans to start adding its own rooms to the station within a few years, eventually turning it into a self-contained outpost available for rent.
Axiom does not disclose how much Shoffner and Saudi Arabia are paying for the 10-day mission. The company had previously quoted a price of $55 million for each.
NASA’s latest price list indicates the price per person per day is $2,000 for food and up to $1,500 for sleeping bags and other equipment.
At least the email and video links are free.
Guests will have access to most of the station while conducting experiments, photographing the Earth and speaking with school children from their country, demonstrating how kites fly in space when connected to a fan.
After decades of avoiding space tourism, NASA now has two private missions planned per year. The Russian Space Agency has been doing this, off and on, for decades.
“Our job is to expand what we do in low Earth orbit around the world,” said NASA Space Station Program Director Joel Montalbano.
Source: TSF
