Tag: Saudi Arabia

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Universe Today

U.S.-Saudi crew wins approval for space station trip

Ax-2 crew portraits
The Ax-2 crew includes, from left, Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. (Axiom Space Photos)

NASA and its international partners have approved the crew lineup for Axiom Space’s second privately funded mission to the International Space Station — a lineup that includes the first Saudi woman cleared to go into orbit.

Two of the former crew members — former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and John Shoffner, a Tennessee business executive, race car driver and aviator — had previously been announced.

They’ll be joined by Ali AlQarni and Rayyannah Barnawi, representing Saudi Arabia’s national astronaut program. Only one other Saudi citizen — Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, who flew on the space shuttle Discovery in 1985 — has ever been in space. The 10-day Axiom Space mission, known as Ax-2, is currently scheduled for this spring.

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Universe Today

Axiom Space aims to fly first Saudi female astronaut

Illustration: Crew Dragon at ISS
An illustration shows SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule approaching the International Space Station. (Credit: SpaceX)

Axiom Space says it’s working with the Saudi Space Commission to send two spacefliers from the Arab kingdom, including the first Saudi woman to go into orbit, to the International Space Station as early as next year.

The inclusion of a female astronaut is particularly notable for Saudi Arabia — where women were forbidden to drive motor vehicles until 2018, and where the status of women is still a controversial subject.

Houston-based Axiom Space and the Saudi Space Commission announced their partnership today at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris. In a news release, the Saudi commission said its participation in Axiom’s Ax-2 mission is part of the nation’s effort “to conduct scientific experiments and research for the betterment of humanity in priority areas such as health, sustainability and space technology.” It acknowledged that including a woman astronaut “will represent a historical first for the Kingdom.”

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GeekWire

Falcon Heavy rocket aces a triple landing

Falcon Heavy launch
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida. (SpaceX via YouTube)

More than a year after SpaceX sent its Falcon Heavy rocket on a majestic test launch, the second Falcon Heavy put a satellite in orbit today for its first customer.

Then, for the first time, all three of the rocket’s reusable booster cores landed safely and successfully. SpaceX also recovered both halves of the rocket’s nose cone and intends to reuse those components as well.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk celebrated the day’s successes with a string of exuberant tweets, punctuated with hearts and rocket emojis.

“The Falcons have landed,” he wrote.

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GeekWire

Elon Musk says Saudis will back Tesla privatization

Elon Musk with Tesla Semi and Roadster
Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduces the Semi truck and an updated Roadster at an unveiling event in 2017. (Tesla via YouTube)

When Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had “funding secured” for a plan to take the company private, he was referring to the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund — whose executives had been pressing him for almost two years to take such a step.

That’s according to an update that Musk posted to Tesla’s website today. The update sheds more light on Aug. 7’s cryptic and seemingly sudden tweets revealing that he was considering a plan to buy up shares from whoever wanted to sell, at a premium price of $420 a share.

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