Saudi astronauts Barnawi, al-Qarni return home after successful mission to ISS
Saudi Arabian astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali al-Qarni returned to the Kingdom on Friday, following their week-long mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Barnawi and al-Qarni splashed down on earth on May 31 in a SpaceX Crew Dragon vessel, after spending eight days on the ISS. During their time in space, they performed more than 20 experiments and research projects including nanomaterial therapeutic applications, such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine.
They also conducted three kite experiments with 12,000 school students from 47 locations across the Kingdom.
The pair returned to the Kingdom with fellow Saudi astronauts Mariam Fardous and Ali al-Ghamdi from Florida, who had been there as backup mission specialists for the Ax-2 mission.
The astronauts were received by the Chairman of the Saudi Space Agency (SSA) Abdullah al-Swaha; Chief of General Staff, Fayyad al-Ruwaili; President of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology Dr. Munir al-Desouki; the SSA Vice Chairman Dr. Mohammed al-Tamimi; and CEO of King Faisal Specialist Hospital Majid al-Fayyadh.
Barnawi was the first Arab woman to go on a space mission. Barnawi and her colleague al-Qarni, were the first Saudi astronauts to go to space in nearly 40 years, after Prince Sultan bin Salman was launched on NASA’s Space Shuttle in 1985.
A total of 263 people from 20 countries have visited the ISS. The Kingdom became the sixth nation to have two national astronauts simultaneously working aboard the orbiting laboratory.
On Wednesday, following the success of the space mission, Saudi Arabia renamed the Saudi Space Commission and designated it as an agency – the Saudi Space Agency (SSA) – following Cabinet approval.
