SpaceX’s private rocket took off for the International Space Station on Sunday. Saudi Arabian astronaut Rina Barnawi was also aboard the rocket. She is the first Saudi Arabian astronaut to go into space after decades.
Saudi Arabia has a reputation for being a conservative country. Here women have also got the right to drive in 2018. Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to change its image and make it a tourist destination.
Saudi Arabia has sent its first female astronaut into space to prove itself as a country with a liberal image. SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral in the US carrying four people, including Saudi Arabia’s Rayana Barnawi.
Ali Alkarni of Saudi Arabia and John Schnaufer, a Tennessee businessman who started his own sports car ‘racing’ team, are also aboard the rocket.
The astronauts are led by retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who currently works for the company managing the 10-day journey. All four will reach the space station on Monday evening. He will return home after spending more than a week here.