American Marconi Wireless News - Private mission with Saudi astronauts docks with ISS

NYSE - LSE

CMSC	-0.09%	21.29	$
JRI	-0.4%	12.35	$
BCE	0.26%	23.46	$
AZN	-1.12%	162.7	$
BCC	-0.03%	78.75	$
BP	-0.45%	42.15	$
CMSD	0%	21.18	$
GSK	1.08%	50.82	$
BTI	-0.27%	56.13	$
RELX	0.66%	36.54	$
RYCEF	-1.22%	20.5	$
VOD	1%	16.04	$
NGG	-0.1%	79.35	$
RIO	-1.43%	103.3	$
RBGPF	0.11%	70.77	$

Private mission with Saudi astronauts docks with ISS / Photo: Fayez Nureldine - /File

Private mission with Saudi astronauts docks with ISS

TECHNOLOGY 22.05.2023

A SpaceX capsule carrying two Saudi astronauts docked with the International Space Station on Monday, as part of a private mission chartered by Axiom Space.

Text size:

Rayyanah Barnawi, a scientist who became the first Saudi woman to go into space, and Ali Al-Qarni, a trained fighter pilot, are the first two people from their country to go to the orbital outpost.

"It was a lovely ride," said mission commander Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who made the voyage three times in the past, adding: "It was the softest docking I've ever felt."

The fourth crew member is American businessman John Shoffner.

About two hours after docking, the capsule's hatch will be opened to allow the four to enter the ISS, where they will join the seven astronauts already on board (three Russians, three Americans, and an Emirati).

The SpaceX rocket took off from Florida on Sunday, and the trip to the ISS, which flies around 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth, lasted about 16 hours.

This mission, named Ax-2, is the second fully private mission to visit the Space Station, following a first in April 2022. The members of Ax-2 will stay about ten days and carry out about 20 experiments.

F.Dubois--AMWN

American Marconi Wireless News - Private mission with Saudi astronauts docks with ISS

Private mission with Saudi astronauts docks with ISS

Featured

John Ternus to lead Apple into the age of AI

Android photo recovery depends on recently deleted folders

Instagram offers three routes to two-factor authentication

Realme P4s, iQOO Z11 and Nothing Phone 4b compared