Riyadh: Later this year, Saudi Arabia plans to launch its first female astronaut. Ali Al-Qarni and Rayyana Barnawi are expected to travel to the International Space Station together for a 10-day mission (ISS).

The first Saudi astronauts to travel to the orbiting space station will be Barnawi and Al-Qarni, who will fly on the private space mission Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2).

The choice to send the first female astronaut into space represents a progressive move for Saudi Arabia, a traditionally conservative country. There are a number of reasons why the Ax-2 mission is important. It shows Saudi Arabia's return to manned space flight, for starters.

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It will also be the first country that is not a member of the official International Space Station partnership to have two astronauts on the ISS at the same time.

Ax-2 mission specialists Al-Qarni and Barnawi will perform this duty. The mission will be led by Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and the Director of Human Spaceflight at Axiom Space. The pilot will be John Shoffner of Knoxville, Tennessee. As well as being the first private mission to be led by a woman, Ax-2 will be the first private space mission to feature both private astronauts and astronauts representing foreign governments.

The four-person Ax-2 crew will launch to the ISS on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. In the spring of 2023, the mission is scheduled to launch from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Over the course of ten days after docking at the space station, the astronauts will complete mission-related tasks involving scientific, educational, and commercial endeavors.

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According to the state-run Saudi Press Agency, "This flight is an integral milestone of a comprehensive program aiming to train and qualify experienced Saudis to conduct human spaceflight, conduct scientific experiments, take part in international research, and undertake future space-related missions supporting the Kingdom's Vision 2030."

This will not be the first trip into space for a Saudi national. Prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud made history in 1985 by becoming the first Arab, the first Muslim, and a member of a royal family to enter orbit. Al Saud participated in STS-51-G, a seven-day mission that was the 18th Space Shuttle flight for NASA.

The United Arab Emirates, which is Saudi Arabia's neighbor, was the first Arab nation to send a citizen into space in 2019. At that time, astronaut Hazzaa al-Mansoori stayed on the ISS for eight days. Sultan al-Neyadi, another astronaut from the UAE, will travel to the ISS later this month. The "Sultan of Space," Neyadi, will spend six months in space, making history as the first Arab astronaut.

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Axiom Space, a Houston-based organization, will lead Ax-2, its second ISS mission. The first private mission to the space station, Ax-1, which launched in April 2022 and carried four astronauts for 17 days in orbit.