SPA:
The two Saudi astronauts, Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni, and the mission team crew have arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) after their spacecraft Dragon 2 successfully docked, 16 hours after the rocket launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The docking of the Dragon 2 spacecraft with the ISS is an historic moment for Saudi astronaut Rayyanah Barnawi, who becomes the first ever Arab woman to go to the ISS. It is also an historic moment for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is now the first Arabic country to send a woman on a space scientific mission and one of the few countries to have two astronauts on board the ISS simultaneously.
The mission crew, consisting of four astronauts, Rayyanah Barnawi, Ali AlQarni, Peggy Whiston and John Shoffner, was greeted by the International Space Station team that wished them success. Upon arrival, the mission crew of AX-2 joined the ISS team to carry out their mission. They will conduct 14 pioneering research experiments in microgravity that are set to have an important scientific impact.
The studies by the two Saudi astronauts range from human research and cell science to artificial rain in microgravity, designed to develop space science and progress in sending more manned spacecraft to the moon and to Mars. In addition, the Saudi astronauts will conduct three educational awareness experiments. This space program has placed the Kingdom as an important player in the global space science research community and as a main investor in the service of humanity and its future.
