Saudi Arabia will send a female astronaut on

a space

mission for the first time this year, another effort by the kingdom to change its ultra-conservative image.  

This is reported by France 24.

Rayyana Barnawi will join compatriot Ali Al-Qarni on a 10-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

They will fly to the ISS aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of a mission by private space company Axiom Space this spring.

Also on board Ax-2 will be former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who will make her fourth flight to the ISS, and Tennessee businessman John Shoffner, who will serve as the pilot.

The Ax-2 crew will be launched to the ISS by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from launch complex 39A of the NASA Space Center named after

Kennedy in Florida.

Saudi Arabia is followed by the United Arab Emirates, which in 2019 became the first Arab country to send one of its citizens into space.

Astronaut Hazzaa al-Mansoori spent eight days on the ISS.

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