Three Arab astronauts to get together in space for first time in history

Yamama Badwan, Staff Reporter

“In the footsteps of Prince Sultan Bin Salman Al Saud, first Arab astronaut, the first mission of two Saudi astronauts to the International Space Station is launched. I look forward to the moments when we will get together as the first three Arabs in space. I wish all the best to both colleagues and I hereby share with you this photo that I took of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi tweeted.

Al Neyadi attached to his tweet a photo of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from a height of 400 km to express his joy at the arrival of the two Saudi astronauts, Rayana Bernawi and Ali Al Qarni, bringing to three the Arab astronauts on board of the International Space Station for the first time in history.

The two Saudi astronauts are scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station on Monday, after they were transported on Falcon 9 rocket, which carried the Dragon spacecraft as part of the AX-2 mission crew, on a scientific trip that represents a historic event for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Ali Al Qarni, 31, one of the AX-2 space mission crew, is the first Saudi to participate in an international space mission. He is a captain pilot, holds a bachelor’s degree in aviation sciences (King Faisal Air Academy in Riyadh) and owns 12 years of experience on combat aircraft with 2,387 flying hours.

Rayana Bernawi, 33, has became the first Arab and Saudi woman to perform a mission in space. She works as a research and laboratory specialist and she holds a bachelor’s degree in reproduction, genetic engineering and tissue growth (University of Otago, New Zealand) and a master’s in biomedical sciences from Alfaisal University. She also has 9 years of experience in the field of cancer stem cells.

On June 17, 1985, Prince Sultan Bin Salman Al Saud set off on a space mission with NASA’s Shuttle Discovery for 7 days, one hour and 38 minutes, to be the first Arab Muslim astronaut. By this, Arabs moved from the stage of monitoring the modern progress of space technology to that of keeping up and actually participating in it.