Barnawi is among the 4 astronauts at the personal Ax-2 project to the International Space Station (ISS), which is scheduled to release atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday afternoon (May 21).
That liftoff will make Barnawi the primary girl from Saudi Arabia ever to succeed in area. And, if all is going in keeping with plan, on Monday morning (May 22) she and Ax-2 crewmate Ali Alqarni will turn into the primary folks from the dominion to seek advice from the orbiting lab.Barnawi is aware of that folks in her house nation — particularly girls and women — shall be following the project intently, and he or she embraces the accountability and alternative that include such consideration.
“I am very honored and and happy to be representing all the dreams and and all the hopes of all the people in Saudi Arabia and all the women back home,” she stated in a prelaunch press convention on Tuesday (May 16). “This is a great opportunity for me to represent the country, to represent their dreams.”
Related: SpaceX to release 1st Saudi girl to area on personal Ax-2 project
Ax-2 would be the 2nd personal astronaut project to the ISS operated by means of the Houston-based corporate. Axiom Space the use of spacex {hardware}. The first Ax-1despatched 4 folks to the ISS for greater than two weeks in April 2022. (Ax-2 will spend 8 days docked to the orbiting lab.)
Ax-2’s commander is Peggy Whitson, who racked up extra general time in area — 665 days — than every other girl or American throughout her time as a NASA astronaut however now flies for Axiom. The fourth crewmate is John Shoffner, an investor and paying buyer who will function Ax-2’s pilot. Alqarni and Barnawi, individuals of Saudi Arabia’s first astronaut elegance, shall be project experts.
The quartet will habits greater than 20 science experiments throughout their day off Earth, a lot of them human well being and body structure investigations. Barnawi, a biomedical researcher with just about a decade of enjoy in most cancers stem-cell analysis, shall be closely concerned with the ones.
“During the Ax-2 mission, she will be focusing her attention on stem cell and breast cancer research,” Axiom Space wrote in a brief biography of the astronaut,
The Ax-2 group can even dedicate an important period of time to outreach and training, particularly actions designed to get kids fascinated by science, generation, engineering and math (STEM).
Barnawi stated she and her crewmates are particularly having a look ahead to this paintings.
“We’re very excited for the part that will be engaging with kids from all over Saudi Arabia and all over the world, talking about our experiments, talking about space and having them trigger their curiosity towards space,” she stated within the May 16 pressconference.
Barnawi added that pleasure concerning the project in Saudi Arabia is palpable, announcing it has are available “overwhelming waves.” She hopes that enthusiasm is helping nurture a brand new era of Saudis desperate to discover the overall frontier.
“Seeing people from their own region going to the space station with the great commander Peggy and international partners is a great thing for them — just being able to understand that this is possible,” she stated. “And if me and Ali can do it, then they can do it, too.”
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