Space Station welcomes 2 Saudi visitors

May 23, 2023
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The International Space Station rolled out the welcome mat Monday for two Saudi visitors, including the kingdom’s first female astronaut.

SpaceX’s chartered flight arrived at the orbiting lab less than 16 hours after blasting off from Florida. The four guests will spend just over a week there, before returning to Earth in their capsule.

The 270-mile-high (430-kilometer-high) docking puts the space station population at 11, representing not only Saudi Arabia and the U.S. but the United Arab Emirates and Russia.

UAE’s astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi greeted them with dates, a traditional Arab welcome.

“This shows how space brings everyone together,” said Saudi Arabia’s first female astronaut, Rayyanah Barnawi, a stem cell researcher. “I’m going to live this experience to the max.”

Saudi fighter pilot Ali al-Qarni dedicated the visit to everyone back home. “This mission is not just for me and Rayyanah. This mission is also for the people with ambition and dreams.”