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Saudi Arabia plans to send its first female astronaut into space

Saudi Arabia plans to send its first female astronaut into space

Saudi Arabia will send its first female astronaut, Rayyana Barnawi, on a space mission later this year, according to state media reports. The mission will be in partnership with fellow Saudi astronaut Ali Al-Qarni and will be launched from the United States during the second quarter of 2023. The two astronauts will join the crew of the AX-2 space mission and will be headed to the International Space Station (ISS).

This move is part of the kingdom’s efforts to revamp its image and to diversify its energy-reliant economy. The neighboring country, the United Arab Emirates, became the first Arab country to send its citizen into space in 2019 when astronaut Hazzaa al-Mansoori spent eight days on the ISS. Another Emirati astronaut, Sultan al-Neyadi, who is nicknamed the “Sultan of Space”, will soon make a voyage to the ISS, becoming the first Arab astronaut to spend six months in space.

Saudi Arabia has a history with space missions. In 1985, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, an airforce pilot, became the first Arab Muslim to travel into space as part of a US-organized mission.

In 2018, the country established its own space program, and last year, it launched a new program to send astronauts into space as part of Prince Salman’s Vision 2030 agenda for economic diversification.

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