RIYADH — The Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni have confirmed their success in conducting several experiments for the first time in history in space. Barnawi and Al-Qarni's announcement came at the press briefing which was held by the Saudi Space Agency (SSA) coinciding with the return of the Saudi astronauts to the Kingdom after completing their scientific mission (SSA-HSF1) in the International Space Station (ISS). The briefing was with the participation of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of SSA Eng. Abdullah Al-Swaha, the Vice Chairman of the SSA Dr. Mohammed Saud Al-Tamimi, in addition to the Saudi astronauts including Mariam Fardous and Ali Al-Ghamdi, and several officials. The Saudi astronauts thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman for their great support and encouragement in this historical mission. Barnawi said that she is proud of representing Saudi Arabia, and for being the first Saudi, Muslim and Arab woman to reach the ISS, in addition to representing the upcoming generation. "Our hope is that Saudi people be able to participate in the space fields within its different aspects," Barnawi said, adding that Saudi Arabia is heading to new fields with 4 Saudi astronauts that are following in the steps that the Kingdom began 40 years ago. From his side, Al-Qarni praised the unlimited support of the Kingdom's leadership, while noting that "Being ambitious and dreamers, we Saudi astronauts aim in raising Saudi Arabia's message in exploring space, and achieving the country's Vision 2030 in the space field." As for the scientific experiments, Barnawi said that they have accomplished the historic scientific mission, and succeeded in conducting 14 scientific research experiments in the microgravity environment with the lead of Saudi scientists. Due to Barnawi's scientific background as a breast cancer researcher, she said that she is very happy for conducting the scientific experiment in immune cells to confront the diseases that afflict millions annually. The experiment will contribute to serve humanity. Al-Qarni, who is a fighter pilot, said that the scientific experiments have represented a quantum leap in his career. The training period was very exciting to gain skills in conducting the experiments in order to implement them in the ISS. In turn, Saudi astronaut Mariam Fardous said that her, and Mohammed Al-Ghamdi's role in this mission was to prepare for any emergency that might occur. She said that they were constantly communicating with Barnawi and Al-Qarni from the control room of the operation room in the United States. Al-Ghamdi pointed out that they have gone under several intensive trainings with the American Space Agency (NASA), and with the European and Japanese Space Agency (ESA and JAXA). The intensive training included theoretical and practical side, of which: leadership skills, gravity withstand skills, learning skills to deal with the systems and devices of the ISS, and others. Al-Ghamdi said that the skills strengthened their readiness to deal with the challenges that they might face during the space trip, as well as enhanced their communicating skills in the teamwork. From his side, Eng. Al-Swaha thanked the Kingdom's leadership for this historical achievement in terms of its speed, volume and its impact. He indicated that the speedy completion of the mission was achieved under the guidance of the Crown Prince nearly a year ago, who directed the acceleration of seizing space opportunities, for Prince Mohammed Bin Salman had stated that the space sector will change the world as we know it today in the next 50 years, just as the Internet changed the world in the past 50 years. "We can see that today when we look at the digital gap, a third of the world is offline, and the only way to connect the offline world is through space," Eng. Al-Swaha said. He added that the only way to preserve the planet and to reach zero neutrality will be through monitoring the environment and earth systems. "This would open up new horizons, as inventions in space have brought us integrated circuits, smart phones and computing power that we live in today, which also led to the innovation of many systems to maintain humanity in various fields." Eng. Al-Swaha said that conducting the 14 historical scientific experiments will enable us to confront diseases such as cancer through the techniques by which astronauts were able to see cancer cells in a 3D manner in a microgravity environment. The experiments will also contribute to combat against genetic diseases and neurons, as well as cloud seeding, planet conservation, water condensation on Earth, in addition to the Moon and Mars mission in cooperation with other agencies. Dr. Al-Tamimi congratulated the Saudi leadership on this historical scientific achievement, praising the Crown Prince for his unlimited support for this trip, starting with preparing the astronauts, in addition to his motivational words during meeting with them before they went into space, until now. The Kingdom is distinguished by the fact that it now has three astronauts who have ascended into space, which makes it the first in the number of astronauts in the region, Dr. Al-Tamimi said, stressing that Saudi Arabia seeks to qualify national capabilities and qualify them to participate with a number of countries to explore and invest in space and go to the Moon and Mars. Regarding the Kingdom's program and its objectives with Saudi Vision 2030, Dr. Al-Tamimi stressed that the program is a national project and one of the strategic initiatives of the SSA. He said the space sector is one of the most important catalysts and generators of innovation in the world, stressing the great interest of the leadership in the sector headed by the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. Space is an inspiring sector for generations, and one of the most important goals of the program is that it motivates young people to join science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines, Dr. Al-Tamimi said.
