RIYADH — Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni will embark on their monumental space expedition on May 9, it was announced on Thursday. Barnawi and Al-Qarni will blast off from Florida on a private mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Axiom Space and NASA officials said in a briefing to preview the flight. Barnawi, a breast cancer researcher, will become the first Saudi woman to voyage into space and will be joined on the mission by fellow Saudi Ali Al-Qarni, a fighter pilot. Also on board will be Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who will be making her fourth flight to the ISS, and John Shoffner, a businessman from Tennessee who will serve as pilot. They will join UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, who began his six-month mission on March 3, on board the ISS. Liftoff of Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for 0243 GMT on May 9 from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. The four-member crew will travel to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule and spend 10 days aboard the orbiting space station. The mission to the ISS will be the second by Axiom Space, a private US space company. On her part, Barnawi expressed her excitement and pride in announcing the launch date of the expedition to complete the goals of the Kingdom's space program, which will contribute to achieving future explorations in various fields. For his part, Al-Qarni said: "The fact is that our mission as the first Saudi astronauts to visit the International Space Station would not have been possible without the support of our wise leadership." The Saudi Space Commission had revealed earlier that Barnawi and Al-Qarni had completed their training program specialized in conducting scientific experiments during their trip to ISS. It is noteworthy that the scientific tasks of Barnawi and Al-Qarni are to conduct 11 pioneering scientific research experiments in microgravity, human research, cell sciences, and the work of artificial rain in microgravity, in addition to research and development experiments.
