Later this year, a Saudi woman will be sent to space as the country’s first-ever female astronaut for the first time in the history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). KSA’s official media reported the story after the monarchy promised to update its long-standing, ultra-conservative policy.
According to the official Saudi Press Agency, Rayyana Barnawi will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) with fellow Saudi astronaut Ali Al-Qarni “around the second quarter of 2023.”
The space journey will “launch from the USA,” according to the agency, and the astronauts “will join the crew of the AX-2 space mission.”
KSA will be the second Muslim nation to do so, following the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which in 2019 became the first Arab nation to launch a person into space. Hazzaa al-Mansoori, an astronaut from the UAE, stayed on the ISS for eight days.
This set a fantastic example for Muslim nations where women will excel alongside males in every field of endeavor. The Gulf nations, which are rich and bountiful in resources, are eager to diversify their energy-dependent economies through a number of projects.
The Saudi female astronaut, Rayyanah Barnawi, will become a beacon of hope and empowerment for Muslim ladies all around the world.
Women in Saudi Arabia have already had unparalleled independence since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took the throne as the country’s de facto ruler in 2017. In addition to being permitted to drive and go abroad without a male guardian, women have seen their share of the workforce double since 2016, from 17 to 37 percent.
Barnawi isn’t the first Saudi astronaut. In 1985, Saudi royal Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz took part in a US-organised space mission, becoming the first Arab Muslim to travel into space.
