Two Saudi astronauts who are heading to the International Space Station met this week with HRH Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States, who shared a photo of the meeting on social media.
“I met with Saudi astronauts Ali & Rayyanah (the first Arab & Muslim female astronaut) who will shape science through 11 experiments which they’ll take part in while joining the Ax-2 space mission’s crew this quarter,” the Ambassador shared.
The astronauts, Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, will carry out 11 science experiments, including a study of cloud seeding in microgravity when they launch from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on May 12 for a 10-day mission.
They are part of the Axiom-2 mission by Axiom Space, the second privately led trip to the orbiting laboratory by the Houston-based company.
The trip for Saudi Arabia comes nearly 40 years after the kingdom sent its first astronaut to space.
According to a report in the National, one of the experiments they will carry out is to test cloud-seeding techniques in a reaction chamber.
“In this experiment, cloud seeding will be examined for the first time in space under microgravity conditions.
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