Saudi Arabia will produce female astronauts within the year. It is to renew the conservative national image and get out of the oil-centered economy.
On the 12th (local time), Saudi Arabia’s state-run news agency (SPA) reported that Rayana Barnawi, a woman of Saudi nationality, will carry out a manned mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) alongside Ali Al-Kharni.
According to reports, Barnawi and Alkarni will participate in ‘AX-2’, the second manned space exploration project of the American private space company Axiom Space, and fly to the International Space Station as early as this spring.
Former NASA female astronaut Peggy Whitson, who has been to the International Space Station three times, also participates in ‘AX-2’. American entrepreneur John Schopener, a former pilot, holds the helm.
These four astronauts will arrive at the International Space Station on a Falcon 9 rocket developed by SpaceX from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and carry out a 10-day mission.
Barnawi is known to be working as a medical researcher at a hospital in Riyadh, the capital. The AFP news agency analyzed the birth of Saudi Arabia’s first female astronaut as part of the reform and opening policy promoted by Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Crown Prince bin Salman, who came to power in 2017, has amended relevant laws to allow women to drive vehicles and travel abroad without a male guardian. Thanks to these women-friendly policies, the share of women in Saudi Arabia’s total workforce more than doubled from 17% in 2016 to 37% last year.
This is not the first time Saudi Arabia has ventured into space. In 1985, Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, an Air Force pilot, participated in a US-led space mission and became the first Arab Muslim to travel in space.
Recently, Arab oil-producing countries are actively working to produce astronauts one after another and are trying to break away from the oil-centered economy.
In 2019, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) selected two ordinary people as astronauts for the first time in the Arab world and carried out a manned mission. Hajah Al-Mansouri became the UAE’s first astronaut during an eight-day stay on the International Space Station, and Sultan Al-Nayadi is set to embark on a six-month flight later this month.
Stimulated by the UAE, Saudi Arabia established the Saudi Space Council (SSC) in 2018 and entered the state-led space development project in earnest. Last year, it announced a plan to produce astronauts as one of the ‘Vision 2030’, Crown Prince bin Salman’s industrial diversification policy.
Accordingly, in April of last year, four Saudi national astronauts participated in ‘AX-1’, the first manned space exploration project of Axiom Space, and stayed on the International Space Station for 17 days.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.