An inspiring message from the first Saudi female astronaut, Rayana Barnawi, breaks the barriers of the sky
The Dragon spacecraft carrying the first Saudi female astronaut, Rayana Barnawi, and her colleague, Ali Al-Qarni, were successfully launched to the International Space Station in the early hours of Monday morning, from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA, according to the Saudi Space Authority.
The authority published on its official page on Twitter the following statement: “The Dragon spacecraft heads to the International Space Station after the success of the launch, and we carry inside it our heroes, Rayana Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni, in order to achieve the aspirations of our people and the vision of our leadership.”
A historic message from the first Saudi female pioneer after achieving success in launching her journey to the International Space Station
The authority published a video clip that includes a message from the first Saudi female astronaut, in which she said: “Peace be upon you from space… It is a very great honor to be part of this historic journey, and as you can see, we are floating and trying to stabilize ourselves, and I would like to start by thanking our leadership and His Highness, our Crown Prince.” Mohammed bin Salman for his support for this mission, and I thank the Saudi Space Authority, Axiom, SpaceX, NASA, and the Japanese and European space agencies for training us.
The journey of the Saudi pilot, Rayana Bernawi, towards space success
Bernawi thanked her family, friends and fellow Saudi astronauts for their support and said, “Thanks to our leadership, we have now reached the top of the sky.”
And the authority published another tweet that included a similar message from Al-Qarni, and commented on it, saying: “The first words of our hero, Ali Al-Qarni, in the environment of microgravity, praise God Almighty and gratitude for the inspiring leadership for supporting and empowering the youth of the country.”
In turn, the heroine Rayana Barnawi, the first Arab Muslim woman to reach space, began her message by saying: “Peace be upon you from space … It is a great honor to be on this historic journey.”
A journey towards the distant horizon… A strong message from the first Saudi female astronaut to the world
The authority clarified the following steps for the Saudi astronauts, and set the dates for these steps as follows:
4:24 am Saudi time: Completion of the docking process with the International Space Station.
6:13 am KSA: The capsule door opens, preparing for the astronauts’ descent.
6:45 am KSA: Ceremony to welcome astronauts to the International Space Station.
