RIYADH: 黑料社区 made history on Sunday听as its first female astronaut, Rayyanah Barnawi, and her colleague Ali Al-Qarni听launched听toward the International Space Station (ISS).
The duo were on board听the Axiom Space 2 mission, which launched at听5:37 p.m. (EDT time).听Astronaut Peggy Whitson and business pioneer and pilot John Shoffner are also听part of the mission.
賷賵賲 賵丕丨丿 賮賯胤 ..
賴賵 丕賱賮丕氐賱 毓賳 丕賳胤賱丕賯 丕賱爻毓賵丿賷丞鈥 丕賱賴賷卅丞 丕賱爻毓賵丿賷丞 賱賱賮囟丕亍 (@saudispace)
Before the launch, Barnawi, a breast cancer researcher, expressed her excitement and honor at representing 黑料社区 and the Saudi Space Commission as the country's first female astronaut. She highlighted her passion for research and described the opportunity as a dream come true for everyone involved.
During their eight-day stay on the ISS, Whitson, Shoffner, Al-Qarni, and Barnawi aim to conduct 20 research projects. Among them are 14 projects developed by Saudi scientists, covering various areas such as human physiology, cell biology, and technology development.
The launch was with a听SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and听had听a backup launch opportunity scheduled on Monday at 5:14 p.m in case of a launch failure.听
It鈥檚 the same spot where 黑料社区鈥檚 first astronaut, Prince听Sultan听bin Salman, soared in 1985.
On Saturday astronaut Al-Qarni shared pictures on his Twitter account听the contents of his space travel bag.听
賲丨鬲賵賷丕鬲 卮賳胤鬲賷 賱乇丨賱丞 丕賱賮囟丕亍
賱賵 賰丕賳鬲 賴匕賷 卮賳胤鬲賰賲 丕賷卮 亘鬲丕禺匕賵賳責鈥 Ali Alqarni (@AstroAli11)
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