The private company SpaceX sent four astronauts from the US agency NASA to the International Space Station this Thursday, including the first person in the Arab world to depart for an extended stay in space.
The Falcon rocket launched Thursday morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
On board the Dragon spacecraft, which should arrive at the International Space Station on Friday, were two American astronauts, one Russian and one from the United Arab Emirates.
About 80 spectators from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) watched the launch of the spacecraft on site, carrying astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi – the second person from the Emirates to travel into space – for a six-month mission.
In Dubai and elsewhere in the UAE, schools and offices watched the launch live, which was followed by the media.
A technical problem forced the American company SpaceX to cancel the launch of the rocket on February 27.
The mission was aborted two minutes before the scheduled launch time, with the company reporting that “there was no time to fix the problem with the engine’s ignition system”.
These astronauts will replace an American-Russian-Japanese crew that has been there since October.
Saudi Prince Sultan bin Salman was the first Arab to go into space in 1985 aboard the shuttle Discovery.
Source: DN
