The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia issued the following press release:
Riyadh, February 12, 2023, SPA -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced today sending the first Saudi female astronaut and a Saudi male astronaut (Rayyanah Barnawi & Ali AlQarni), respectively, to the International Space Station during the second quarter of 2023. This aims to empower national capabilities in human spaceflight geared towards serving humanity and benefiting from the promising opportunities offered by the space industry, as well as contributing to scientific research in many aspects such as health, sustainability, and space technology. The astronauts (Rayyanah Barnawi & Ali AlQarni) will join the crew of the Ax-2 space mission.
The spaceflight is scheduled to launch from the USA to the International Space Station. In addition, the Saudi Human Spaceflight Program includes the training of two more astronauts on all mission requirements (Mariam Fardous & Ali AlGamdi).
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