Private mission carrying Saudi astronauts launches to ISS

Cape Canaveral (AFP) May 22, 2023

The second-ever private mission to the International Space Station (ISS), organized by Axiom Space, blasted off from the southern US state of Florida Sunday, carrying the first two Saudi astronauts to travel to the orbiting laboratory. Rayyanah Barnawi, a breast cancer researcher, is the first Saudi woman to voyage into space and is joined on the mission by fellow Saudi Ali Al-Qarni, a fight