Saudi astronauts ‘excited, proud’ to be part of historic space mission

Crew of AX-2 Mission ready for launch on May 21, 2023. (Supplied)

• Ali Al-Qarni, Rayyanah Barnawi will carry dates, Saudi coffee, jewelry with them on Axiom Mission 2 to International Space Station
• The two members of Saudi Arabia’s first astronaut class will become the Kingdom’s first visitors to the space station

JEDDAH: Two Saudi astronauts preparing to blast off on a historic trip to the International Space Station have expressed their excitement and pride at taking part in the mission.
Ali Al-Qarni and Rayyanah Barnawi will join Americans commander Peggy Whitson and pilot John Shoffner for the Axiom Mission 2 launch on May 21.
The crew will on Sunday travel atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the mission to the ISS, operated by Axiom Space, and will spend 10 days conducting 20 different scientific experiments, including one to grow stem cells in microgravity.
The two members of Saudi Arabia’s first astronaut class will become the Kingdom’s first visitors to the space station and second and third astronauts in space after Prince Sultan bin Salman spent a week in orbit as a payload specialist on NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery, in 1985.
Speaking at a crew press conference in Orlando on Tuesday, Al-Qarni said: “We are really honored and privileged to have you guys and to be part of this amazing mission.”
And Barnawi said: “We are thrilled and excited for our mission and to represent Saudi Arabia on this journey.
“I am very honored and happy to be representing the dreams and hopes of all people in Saudi Arabia, and all the women back home and the region.”
Barnawi, a breast cancer researcher, who will be the first Saudi woman in space, added: “We’re going to enjoy this mission. We’re almost five days away so our excitement is above the limits.
“I’m really looking forward to all the experiments we’re going to be conducting onboard the ISS, also, all the outreach events.”
Royal Saudi Air Force fighter pilot Al-Qarni has clocked up more than 2,387 flying hours during 12 years of military service. He said: “I’m really looking forward to all the experiments we’re going to be conducting onboard the International Space Station.”
Whitson, a record-breaking former NASA astronaut who now flies for Axiom Space, said: “Five days to launch, let me tell you that we are so excited. In fact, we are heading to space shortly and hope everything goes well. We feel we are prepared to go.”
Shoffner said: “I’ve been a fan of space since I was a child — I grew up in the age of the early space race — so getting here now and having a chance to fulfil that excitement is very, very powerful to me.”
On what personal items the crew would be taking with them into space, Barnawi said she would be carrying one of her grandmother’s earrings. Al-Qarni will have family photos, dates, and Saudi coffee with him, Whitson will take a necklace from her wedding day that she has worn on three space shuttle missions, while Shoffner said he would be taking a model of a spacecraft he built when he was a child.
The mission marks a partnership between the Saudi and US government space agencies with several commercial space companies.