A boy, Ali Al-Kharni and a girl, Rayyana Barnawi. These are the names of Saudi Arabian astronauts who will join the International Space Station. Over a week, they will participate in several science experiments and awareness programs for Saudi students, explains our regional correspondent, Nicholas Gerathren. This task is described as “ historical By the head of the Saudi Space Agency.
Because this commission was formed only at the end of 2018 following a royal order. Since then, huge investments in the sector have been announced until the end of the Saudi astronaut program in September 2022.
This strategy ” Vision 2030 “Kingdom. Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading crude oil exporter, still heavily dependent on its oil revenues, is indeed trying to diversify its economy, but also trying to restore its tough image.
read more: Space: UAE and Saudi Arabia like to think big
Axiom’s exaggerated projects in space
The work involving Ali Al-Kharni and Rayana Barnawi is somewhat special because it is personal. American company Axiom Space is responsible for this. And she has much bigger ambitions for the future.
Formerly founded by NASA, Axiom Space is the second time a mission has been organized into space. Simon Rose Scientific Department of RFI. If she calls SpaceX For the launch, it was he who concluded the contracts so that his astronauts, individually, would benefit from the infrastructure of the ISS.
This ten-day mission, heralding others, has sprinkled the air of space tourism with scientific research. The company wants to be the first to have its own private station in orbit. To do this, Axiom has secured a contract from NASA to attach its modules to the ISS in the future. And when it retires in 2030, its constituencies will be autonomous without division.
The project is progressing – the first elements are already under construction – and it is benefiting from the benevolent view of the US authorities. After handing over low-Earth orbit exploration to the public sector, they welcome privatization so that NASA can focus on more distant exploration; Chandran first, with Project Artemis, in which Axiom is also a partner. NASA entrusted him with the vital task of developing new spacesuits to be used by astronauts.
Two countries, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were animated by a new space race
Saudi Arabian astronauts Ali Al-Kharni and Rayana Barnawi, who will launch to the International Space Station this Sunday, May 21, will find another Arab astronaut from the United Arab Emirates: Sultan Al-Neyadi. The success of both these countries landed in the space race.
His videos have been viewed millions of times. Sultan al-Neyadi, aboard the ISS since early March, has been capturing the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula from space, immortalizing the Arab world from Iraq to Mauritania. The UAE understands this well: Their astronaut on the ISS A great communication tool, explaining Nicholas Feldman.
This Sunday, the presence of a woman in the Saudi group is unlikely as the crown prince is committed to projecting a modern image of his kingdom. For the UAE, as for Saudi Arabia, space, a new competitive ground, is a field of scientific and technological research.
In Saudi Arabia, a pioneer in the region that sent the first Arab astronaut into space in 1985, is at the center of the space exploration program ” Vision 2030 Oil revenue to diversify the economy. More than $2 billion has been earmarked for the space program. The United Arab Emirates has caught up. In 2021, they entered the club of most closed countries A satellite orbiting Mars. A year later, Abu Dhabi failed to land a rover on the moon. ” Our ambitions remain the same “, the Emirati vice president said last month, announcing that a new lunar mission was underway.
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