Saudi Arabia announces the successful launch of the first flight of Saudi astronauts

On Sunday/Monday night, Saudi Arabia announced the successful launch of the first Saudi astronaut flight in the history of the Kingdom, which is heading to the International Space Station.

This came according to a broadcast broadcast by the official Saudi Al-Ekhbariya channel of the launch events, through its account documented on “Twitter”.

And the channel reported, “The success of the separation of the missile, in which the two Saudi astronauts, Ali Al-Qarni and Rayana Bernawi, were inside, on the specified trajectory.”

And she confirmed, “The Saudi astronauts launched into space.”

On Wednesday, the Saudi astronauts, Al-Qarni and Bernawi, announced that they had completed their preparations for their first space mission on May 21.

On February 12, the Saudi Space Authority (officially) announced its intention to send the first woman and astronaut to the International Space Station in the second quarter of this year 2023.

The flight, which was launched from the United States of America to the International Space Station, aims to “contribute to scientific research in a number of priority areas such as health, sustainability and space technology,” according to the authority’s statement.

On May 6, the NASA Space Operations Room announced that on the 21st of the same month, a spacecraft carrying the first Saudi female astronaut will be launched.

There is a growing interest in space exploration on the part of other Gulf countries. In December 2022, the Emirati space explorer “Rashid” set off towards the moon, and the Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi is currently carrying out the first long-term space mission in the Arab world.

In September 2022, the Saudi Space Commission launched the Kingdom’s program for astronauts, with goals including: qualifying Saudi cadres for long- and short-term space flights, participating in scientific experiments, international research, and future space-related missions.