Saudi Arabia sending its first female astronaut to space
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Saudi Arabia is set to send its first female astronaut, Rayyana Barnawi, to the International Space Station (ISS) in May 2023.
Barnawi will join fellow Saudi astronaut Ali Al-Qarni on the AX-2 mission to the ISS.
This will make Saudi Arabia one of the few countries to bring two astronauts of the same nationality aboard the ISS simultaneously.
The Saudi Human Spaceflight program, launched by the Saudi Space Commission, aims to train and qualify experienced nationals to undertake human spaceflight and contribute to future space-related missions.
This announcement follows a growing trend of interest in space exploration among Gulf countries and the Arab world.
The United Arab Emirates sent its first space explorer to the moon in December 2022, and Oman has announced plans to launch the Arab world's first space launch pad.
This mission marks a new chapter in the Saudi space conquest, which started in 1985 when the first Arab astronaut, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, was sent into space.