From the BBC:
“First Arab female astronaut reaches space station”
(Rayyanah Barnawi (2nd right) and fellow Saudi astronaut Ali
Alqarni (2nd L) inside the International Space Station on May 22, 2023)
The first female Arab astronaut to go to space has arrived at
the International Space Station (ISS). Rayyanah Barnawi is one of two Saudis on
Axiom Space's second private mission, which took off on a SpaceX Falcon 9
rocket from the US on Sunday. During her scheduled 10 days in orbit on the ISS,
the 34-year-old biomedical scientist plans to carry out stem cell and breast
cancer research. She hopes to inspire women from all backgrounds in the Middle
East.
In a video filmed in space before she reached the ISS, she
said: "To the people around the world, the future is very bright. I would
like you to dream big, believe in yourselves and believe in humanity." Ms
Barnawi is joined on Axiom Mission 2 by fellow Saudi mission specialist Ali
Alqarni, the second male astronaut from the Gulf kingdom to go to space, and
two Americans, commander Peggy Whitson and pilot John Shoffner. The crew
travelled to space inside SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, which sat atop the Falcon
9 rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at
21:37 GMT on Sunday. Dragon docked autonomously with the ISS at 13:12 GMT on
Monday, Axiom Space tweeted.
During their time on the orbiting laboratory the crew will
conduct more than 20 science and technology experiments, including the
repercussions of space on human health and rain-seeding technology. Ms
Barnawi's experiments will be based on some of the work she has done over the
past nine years as a research lab technician at the Stem Cell and Tissue
Re-engineering Programme of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre
in Riyadh.
At a recent news conference, she said that becoming the first
female Saudi astronaut to go to space was "a great pleasure and honour
that I'm very happy to carry". She also said she was looking forward to
sharing her experience on board the ISS through video link-ups with children. Being
able to see their faces when they see astronauts from their own region for the
first time is very thrilling." Mishaal Ashemimry, a Saudi-American
aerospace engineer and adviser to the Saudi Space Commission, said: "Our
goals are to benefit all humanity through science." "We hope this
mission will inspire girls from various backgrounds in order to advance the
human experience." Women in Saudi Arabia only gained the right to drive in
2018, and human rights groups say male guardianship laws still limit women's
rights there.
^ It is amazing to have this happen – especially a Woman from
Saudi Arabia since Saudi Women couldn’t even do many basic things by themselves
until very recently – much less go into Space. ^
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