![]() While aboard the station, all four members are expected to participate in science, communication, and educational outreach projects before they return for a splashdown landing in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf of Mexico. If me and Ali can do it, then they can do it, too.” “Just being able to understand that this is possible. “This is a dream come true for everyone,” Barnawi said before the flight. The pair are the first Saudi citizens to visit the space station.īarnawi and Alqarni are the first from their country to ride a rocket since a Saudi prince launched aboard shuttle Discovery in 1985. Alqarni is a captain and fighter pilot with 12 years of experience in the Royal Saudi Air Force. He fills the pilot seat for the private mission since he is a veteran aviator with 25 years and more than 8,500 hours of flying experience.īarnawi, the first female Saudi astronaut, is a breast cancer researcher. Shoffner, the only paying customer on the flight, is a businessman, aviator, and STEM advocate who was born in Alaska and now lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. NASA contract: NASA awards multibillion-dollar lunar lander contract to Blue Origin for Artemis program Ticket-holding crew includes Saudi Arabia's first woman in space "And with that, let's get to work and build some history together." Thanks to the teams that make up our very big family Axiom Space, NASA, the international space partners, and SpaceX," Whitson said. "Today, we stand on the threshold of a remarkable journey thanks to your unwavering spirit to explore beyond our home planet and the endless possibility it enables. Now we're doing it for everyone else.Īxiom Space did not release how much Shoffner and Saudi Arabia are paying for the planned 10-day mission but the company had previously cited a ticket price of $55 million each.īefore liftoff, Whitson gave a few remarks that recognized the hard work of not only launch teams, but the thousands of people that it takes to make a crewed launch happen. Peggy Whitson: Female pioneers expanded access for women in space. She is joined by private spaceflight participant and mission pilot John Shoffner and the first two Saudi Arabian government-sponsored astronauts, mission specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. ![]() The crew of four is commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, Axiom Space's director of human spaceflight. EDT Monday and remain there for eight days before returning back to Earth. The SpaceX Dragon "Freedom" capsule is slated to dock with the station at 9:30 a.m. ![]() The mission for Houston-based company Axiom Space – contracted with NASA – is expected to last 10 days. BREVARD COUNTY, Florida – SpaceX's Axiom-2 mission took off from Kennedy Space Center on Sunday night, carrying the second all-private crew of astronauts on a multimillion-dollar journey to the International Space Station.
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