Saudi astronauts return to Earth after eight days in space

DUBAI: Saudi astronauts Rayana Barnawi and Ali Al-Qarni are expected to return to Earth late Tuesday after spending eight days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), where they conducted a series of science experiments.

Barnawi, the first Saudi and Arab woman in space, and Al-Qarni arrived at the space station on May 22 as part of Axiom Space’s Axiom Space Special Ax-2 mission.

The multinational crew of four astronauts is scheduled to depart from the station’s Harmony module spaceport no later than 3:05 p.m. (GMT) Tuesday, May 30, aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, to begin the return trip and shutdown. Florida coast,” a NASA statement read.

AXE 2 Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot John Shoffner, and Mission Specialists Ali Al-Qarni and Rayana Barnawi, both representing Saudi Arabia, will spend approximately nine days in space at the end of their mission. The SpaceX Dragon will return to Earth with more than 300 pounds of cargo, including Including NASA instruments and data from more than 20 different experiments.

NASA will cover the live broadcast Separation and departure of the Ax-2 mission from the International Space Station, whileAxiom Space will broadcast live Re-entry and landing of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft on the company’s website.

During their eight-day stay at the space station, the Saudi astronauts conducted a series of experiments, including a study on heat transfer, in cooperation with Saudi students from all over the Kingdom, related to the microgravity of the space station and Earth.

The National News Agency (SPA) stated that “the results showed that heat travels more slowly in space than it does on Earth.” A space kite experiment was also conducted on 12,000 middle school students between the ages of 11 and 13 from 47 Saudi schools through a live video broadcast with the Saudis on missions in space.

On Monday, AX-2 astronauts joined the Expedition 69 crew for a farewell ceremony.

In 1985, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, a pilot in the Air Force, participated in a space flight organized by the United States, becoming the first Saudi to go into space.

This text is a translation of an article published on Arabnews.com