Saudi Arabia aims to launch 1st woman to space as soon as 2023

September 23, 2022

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A Saudi Arabian lady will attain space for the primary time subsequent yr, if all goes in keeping with plan.

The nation introduced at present (Sept. 22) that it has started an astronaut program (opens in new tab) and intends to ship two of its residents to space — at the least considered one of them a lady — as early as 2023. That mission shall be organized by Houston-based firm Axiom Space.

“House belongs to all of humanity, which is without doubt one of the causes Axiom House is happy to welcome our new partnership with the Saudi House Fee to coach and fly Saudi astronauts, together with the primary feminine Saudi astronaut,” Axiom House President and CEO Michael Suffredini said in a statement (opens in new tab).

Associated: Axiom Space, SpaceX change the landscape of private spaceflight with Ax-1 mission

A Saudi man has already made it to orbit: The prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud flew on the STS-51-G mission of the space shuttle Discovery in 1985. Ladies have historically had fewer rights in Saudi Arabia than they get pleasure from in the US and lots of different nations; Saudi ladies have been forbidden to drive cars until 2018 (opens in new tab), for instance.

Axiom has already flown one non-public crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS). That flight, known as Ax-1, carried three paying clients and Axiom worker (and former NASA astronaut) Michael López-Alegría to and from the orbiting lab aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule. Axiom is gearing up for an additional ISS mission, known as Ax-2, which is predicted to launch next spring.

Presumably, the approaching Saudi flight shall be comparable, using SpaceX {hardware} to get to the ISS. However Axiom’s assertion didn’t lay out such particulars.

Axiom has ambitions past shuttling folks to and from the orbiting lab. As an illustration, the corporate plans to start launching modules to the ISS in 2024. A couple of years later, this {hardware} will detach and develop into a free-flying commercial space station, which Axiom will function.

Axiom may even build the moonwalking spacesuits for NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, which goals to place astronauts down close to the lunar south pole in 2025 or 2026.

Mike Wall is the creator of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a ebook concerning the seek for alien life. Observe him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).