Saudi mission to space gets official launch date, to see kingdom's first female astronaut

Two astronauts from Saudi Arabia, including the first Saudi woman, will blast off from Florida on May 8 on a private mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Axiom Space and Nasa officials said on Thursday.

Rayyanah Barnawi, a breast cancer researcher, will become the first Saudi woman to voyage into space and will be joined on the mission by fellow Saudi Ali Al Qarni, a fighter pilot.

Also on board will be Peggy Whitson, a former Nasa astronaut who will be making her fourth flight to the ISS, and John Shoffner, a businessman from Tennessee who will serve as pilot.

Liftoff of Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for 10:43 pm Eastern Time on May 8 (0243 GMT on May 9) from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Axiom Space and NASA officials said in a briefing to preview the flight.

The four-member crew will travel to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule and spend 10 days aboard the orbiting space station.

The mission to the ISS will be the second by Axiom Space, a private space company.

Axiom Space carried out its first private astronaut mission to the ISS in April 2022. Four astronauts spent 17 days in orbit as part of Ax-1.