Here comes a proud moment for every girl, especially women hailing from Saudi Arabia. Rayyanah Barnawi, a Saudi Arabian breast cancer researcher, is all set to go to space as the very first Arab woman ever to do so. The rocket took off on a mission to ISS on Sunday.
Rayyanah Barnawi
The first-ever Arab lady to step into space is actually a breast cancer researcher hailing from Saudi Arabia. Not just Rayyanah Barnawi, but Saudi Ali al-Qarni too belongs to Saudi Arabia and is a part of the mission as a fighter pilot. These two are actually the very first Saudi astronauts ever to go to space in decades.
The mission took off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket comes from Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Southern United States. The time of the take-off was 5:37 PM local time.
The launch was done from the Kennedy Space Centre and the crew consisted of a retired NASA astronaut and businessman, who, presently is the owner of the company that arranged the visit.
The take-off is actually the second private flight to the space station that has been organized by Axiom Space. It was last year itself that the company sent an ex-NASA astronaut along with three businessmen to space.
Prior to creating a stand-alone outpost for hiring, Axiom Space intends to add its rooms to the International Space Station (ISS).
The ticket price of the passengers are not clearly known, but Axiom Space previously stated the price of the ticket as $55 million each. The duration of the mission would be for 10 days.
The latest price list of NASA states a charge of $2,000, for each person per day for the food. Additionally, it stated a charge of $1,500 for sleeping bags.
What does it means for Saudi Arabia?
This comes as a piece of big and proud news for Saudi Arabia. Al-Qarni and Barnawi are the very first Saudis to visit in a rocket in decades. The last time it happened was in the year 1985 when the Saudi prince launched the aboard shuttle Discovery. The tickets for Al-Qarni and Barnawi were sponsored by the government of Saudi Arabia.
It is actually a robust move by the Gulf Kingdom to involve a Saudi woman in a mission to space. Where on one side, women gained the right to drive only some years ago in the Gulf Kingdom, sending a woman to space proves to be a remarkable move that counters its conservative image.
It was in the year 2018 that the Gulf Kingdom set up the Saudi Space Commission. Last year, it launched a mission to send astronauts to space.
After reaching orbit, R Barnawi made a statement, “Hello from outer space! It feels amazing to be viewing Earth from this capsule."
To this, Al-Qarni added by saying that as he looks outside into the space, he wonders if this is just the mere beginning of a great journey ahead for everyone.
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