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A Saudi woman, a former car pilot... the millionaire crew of the private SpaceX flight

A woman astronaut sponsored by the Government of Saudi Arabia, a millionaire businessman and former race car driver, a 63-year-old biochemical researcher and a 31-year-old Saudi astronaut.

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A Saudi woman, a former car pilot... the millionaire crew of the private SpaceX flight

A woman astronaut sponsored by the Government of Saudi Arabia, a millionaire businessman and former race car driver, a 63-year-old biochemical researcher and a 31-year-old Saudi astronaut. These are the four crew members of the private mission Ax-2, the second flight private of the SpaceX company owned by Elon Musk, which this Sunday took off from Cape Canaveral (Florida) towards the International Space Station (ISS) and aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

The four have arrived at the space station on Monday, where they will spend 10 days before returning home with a splashdown off the coast of Florida.

With the sponsorship of the Saudi government, Rayyanah Barnawi, a stem cell researcher, became the first Saudi Arabian woman to travel into space. She is accompanied by Ali al-Qarni, a fighter pilot in the Royal Saudi Air Force. They are the first from their country to travel in a rocket space since a Saudi prince set off aboard the shuttle Discovery in 1985. Interestingly, an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates will meet them at the station.

"Hello from outer space! It feels amazing to see Earth from this capsule," Barnawi said after entering orbit. "As I look into space, I can't help but think that this is just the beginning of a great journey for all of us," Al-Qarni added. Both would have paid 55 million dollars, each, to be part of this private mission.

Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, 63, is leading the project, becoming the first female commander of a private space mission. The American businessman and aviator John Shoffner, a private client with more than 8,500 flight hours, completes the team by operating as a pilot. He, too, would have paid $55 million to travel to the International Space Station, although Axiom Space has not disclosed the price of the tickets.

After decades of turning its back on space tourism, NASA is now part of the industry and plans to carry out two private missions a year. The Russian Space Agency has been doing it on and off for decades.

Rayyanah Barnawi has become the first Arab woman to reach low Earth orbit, which is where the space station travels. Born in September 1988 in the Saudi city of Jeddah, this young astronaut studied a Master's degree in Biomedical Sciences at Al Faisal University in Saudi Arabia after completing a degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Otago (New Zealand), Axiom publishes. Space as a profile of Barnawi.

A biomedical researcher with nearly a decade of experience in cancer stem cell research, Barnawi will work to facilitate Saudi Arabian scientific research aboard Axiom Space's second private mission, where she will focus her focus on cancer and stem cell research. of breast.

"This mission includes carrying out 14 pioneering experiments in a microgravity environment, which will contribute to providing answers about health research in that environment," the Saudi Space Authority said in a statement published by the kingdom's official news agency, SPA. .

The Ax-2 mission represents a step forward for the company Axiom Space towards the goal they have of building a commercial space station in low Earth orbit, where the ISS moves, and thus take advantage of "the benefits of microgravity to improve life on Earth.

Axiom Space's first private mission, Ax-1, was launched on April 8, 2022 with four private crew members who spent 17 days on the space station conducting science outreach and educational tasks. It was commanded by the Spanish-American and former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, who is also a director of Axiom Space, and flew aboard the Space X ship Dragon Endeavor, which on its return fell with the crew on board in front of off the coast of Florida on April 25, 2022.

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