Successful launch of SpaceX’s Falcon rocket to the ISS, the first Saudi astronaut and businessman is also on board

Cape Canaveral (USA). SpaceX’s private rocket took off for the International Space Station-ISS on Sunday. Saudi astronaut Rayyana Barnawi is also aboard this rocket. She is the first astronaut from Saudi Arabia to fly into space after decades. Apart from that, John Schnaufer, a businessman from Tennessee who started his own sports car “racing” team, is also on board the rocket. These astronauts are led by retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who currently works with the company managing the 10-day trip.

The Falcon rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Sunday afternoon with these passengers. These four astronauts must reach the International Space Station in their capsule on Monday morning. They will spend more than a week there before disembarking in the waters off Florida. Rayyana Barnawi, a Saudi government-sponsored stem cell researcher, has become the country’s first woman to go into space. She joined Ali Al-Qarni, a Royal Saudi Air Force fighter pilot, on this space trip. She is the first person to pilot a rocket from her country since a Saudi prince was launched in the space shuttle Discovery in 1985.

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An astronaut from the United Arab Emirates prepares to welcome him to the International Space Station. Barnavi said before the flight that “it’s like a dream come true for everyone”. Just to be able to understand that it is possible. If me and Ali can do it, so can he. However, the company that sent private passenger tickets into space did not disclose how much Schnaufer and Saudi Arabia paid for the 10-day mission. But the company previously listed the price of each ticket at $55 million.

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Keywords: NASA, space news, space science