Saudi astronaut Rayyanah Barnawi waves before being brought to the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon spacecraft for launch at the Kennedy Space Center on 21 May, 2023 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images / AFP
The University of Otago says it is extremely proud of former student Rayyanah Barnawi who is officially the first Arab woman to go to space.
The Saudi Arabian biomedical researcher was among a crew that launched in a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on 21 May.
The rocket will arrive at the International Space Station to conduct 20 research experiments, including cloud seeding in the microgravity environment.
Barnawi was an international student at Otago and completed a Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences in 2011, majoring in Reproduction, Genetics and Development.
"We wish Rayyanah a successful and safe journey in space," acting vice-chancellor Helen Nicholson said.
She was accompanied by another Saudi, Ali Alqarni, and two Americans - retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and race car driver and investor John Shoffner - for the 10-day journey.
US company Axiom Space arranged the mission which was the first time Saudis went into space aboard a private spacecraft.
Axiom launched its first private mission to the space station in April, sending a four-man crew to the space station aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that included a Canadian investor and an Israeli businessman.
Each Crew Dragon seat on Axiom's first mission sold for US$55 million (NZ$87.7m) each.
The second mission was its first to include both private and government-sponsored astronauts, the company said.
- Reuters / RNZ