Two Saudi visitors, one of which was the country’s first female astronaut, were welcomed aboard the International Space Station on Monday. Their arrival came via a SpaceX chartered flight that launched from Florida and arrived at the orbiting laboratory in less than sixteen hours.
The visitors are set to spend slightly over a week there before they wrap up their visit and return to Earth through their capsule.
With the docking of the SpaceX chartered flight, the International Space Station now has a population of 11 individuals that represent the United States, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
Rayyanah Barnawi, a stem cell researcher, and fighter pilot Ali al-Qarni, are the two Saudi visitors being sponsored by the government, and their expenses for the trip is being covered by the Saudi Arabian government, which amounts to a multimillion-dollar tab. Their visit makes Barnawi the first female astronaut from Saudi Arabia to visit the International Space Station.
Knoxville businessman John Shoffner, who founded a car racing team, is covering his own expenses for the trip. Retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is accompanying the guests as their chaperone. Whitson, who is currently employed by Axiom Space, a Houston-based company that orchestrated the 10-day journey, has organized the company’s second trip to the International Space Station.
Although Axiom Space had announced ticket prices of $55 million each for the private journey taken by three businessmen last year, the company did not reveal how much the seats cost for the latest trip to the International Space Station.
It should be noted that before this journey, only one other Saudi had flown into space before, a prince who rode on NASA’s shuttle Discovery in 1985.
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