Saudi Arabia plans to send female astronaut to space in 2023

Saudi Arabia mentioned Thursday it should launch a coaching program with the purpose of sending its personal astronauts, together with a girl, into space subsequent yr.

The dominion is actively selling science and know-how as a part of its wide-ranging Imaginative and prescient 2030 plan to overtake its economic system and scale back its dependency on oil.

The plan, championed by Saudi Arabia’s highly effective Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, additionally requires better integration of ladies into the workforce of the conservative Muslim nation. Saudi Arabia lifted a long-standing ban on ladies driving in 2018.

“The Saudi Astronaut Program, which is an integral a part of the Kingdom’s bold Imaginative and prescient 2030, will ship Saudi astronauts into space to assist higher serve humanity,” the Saudi Area Fee mentioned in an announcement.

“One of many astronauts might be a Saudi lady, whose mission to space will characterize a historic first for the Kingdom.”

The primary Arab or Muslim to journey to space was Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan bin Salman, a half-brother of the crown prince and an air drive pilot who was a part of the seven-member crew of NASA’s Discovery mission in 1985. He later served as head of the Saudi Area Fee from 2018 till final yr, when he was appointed an adviser to King Salman.

The neighboring United Arab Emirates has the Arab world’s main space program, having launched a probe into Mars’ orbit in February 2021. The UAE plans to launch its first lunar rover in November. If the moon mission succeeds, the UAE and Japan, which is offering the lander, would be part of the ranks of solely the U.S., Russia and China as nations which have put a spacecraft on the lunar floor.

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