CAPE CANAVERAL, May 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The second-ever private mission to the International Space Station launched Sunday carrying a Saudi man and woman, the first citizens from their country to travel to the orbiting outpost.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared into the sky from Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s east coast on a mission organized by Axiom Space company.
Saudis Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni are accompanied by two other crew members: former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, now working for the company that arranged the trip from Kennedy Space Center, and American entrepreneur John Shoffner, who now owns a sports car racing team
The four should reach the space station in their capsule Monday morning; they’ll spend just over a week there before returning home with a splashdown off the Florida coast.
Sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government, Rayyanah Barnawi, a stem cell researcher, became the first woman from the kingdom to go to space. She was joined by Ali al-Qarni, a fighter pilot with the Royal Saudi Air Force.
They’re the first from their country to ride a rocket since a Saudi prince launched aboard shuttle Discovery in 1985. In a quirk of timing, they’ll be greeted at the station by an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates.
“Hello from outer space! It feels amazing to be viewing Earth from this capsule,” Barnawi said after settling into orbit.
Added al-Qarni: “As I look outside into space, I can’t help but think this is just the beginning of a great journey for all of us.”
Rounding out the visiting crew: Knoxville, Tennessee’s John Shoffner, former driver and owner of a sports car racing team that competes in Europe, and chaperone Peggy Whitson, the station’s first female commander who holds the U.S. record for most accumulated time in space: 665 days and counting.
“It was a phenomenal ride,” Whitson said after reaching orbit. Her crewmates clapped their hands in joy.
It’s the second private flight to the space station organized by Houston-based Axiom Space. The first was last year by three businessmen, with another retired NASA astronaut. The company plans to start adding its own rooms to the station in another few years, eventually removing them to form a stand-alone outpost available for hire.
Axiom won’t say how much Shoffner and Saudi Arabia are paying for the planned 10-day mission. The company had previously cited a ticket price of $55 million each.
After decades of shunning space tourism, NASA now embraces it with two private missions planned a year. The Russian Space Agency has been doing it, off and on, for decades. — NNN-AGENCIES
