STS-51-G was the 18th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fifth flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. The seven-day mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 17, 1985, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on June 24, 1985. Sultan bin Salman Al Saud from Saudi Arabia was on board as a payload specialist; Al Saud became the first Arab, the first Muslim, and the first member of a royal family to fly into space. It was also the first Space Shuttle mission which flew without at least one astronaut from the pre-Shuttle era among its crew.
Muhammed Ahmed Faris was a Syrian military aviator and astronaut. He was the first Syrian and the second Arab in space.
Anatoli Alekseyevich Ivanishin is a former Russian cosmonaut. His first visit to space was to the International Space Station on board the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft as an Expedition 29 / Expedition 30 crew member, launching in November 2011 and returning in April 2012. Ivanishin was the Commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 49.
Jessica Ulrika Meir is an American NASA astronaut, marine biologist, and physiologist. She was previously an assistant professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, following postdoctoral research in comparative physiology at the University of British Columbia. She has studied the diving physiology and behavior of emperor penguins in Antarctica, and the physiology of bar-headed geese, which are able to migrate over the Himalayas. In September 2002, Meir served as an aquanaut on the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 4 crew. In 2013, she was selected by NASA to Astronaut Group 21. In 2016, Meir participated in ESA CAVES, a training course in which international astronauts train in a space-analogue cave environment. Meir launched on September 25, 2019, to the ISS onboard Soyuz MS-15, where she served as a flight Engineer during Expedition 61 and 62. On October 18, 2019, Meir and Christina Koch were the first women to participate in an all-female spacewalk.
The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre is a Dubai government organisation working on the UAE space programme, which includes various space satellite projects, such as the Emirates Mars Mission, the Emirates Lunar Mission, and the UAE astronaut programme. The centre actively works to promote space science and research in the region and encompasses the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST).
Mariam al-Mansouri, is the first female fighter pilot of the United Arab Emirates. She was one of the first women to join the United Arab Emirates Air Force (UAEAF) academy, graduating in 2007. She flies an F-16 Fighting Falcon and led UAE mission airstrikes against ISIS over Syria.
Soyuz MS-12 was a Soyuz spaceflight which launched on 14 March 2019, carrying three members of the Expedition 59 crew to the International Space Station. The mission ended on 3 October 2019, when Soyuz-MS-12 successfully landed.
Soyuz MS-15 was a Soyuz spaceflight launched on 25 September 2019, transporting two members of the Expedition 61 crew and a short duration visiting crew member to the International Space Station. Soyuz MS-15 was the 143rd flight of a Soyuz spacecraft with a crew. It was the last flight of Soyuz-FG launcher before its replacement by the Soyuz-2 in the crewed spaceflight role, and also the last launch from Site 1/5 before its modernisation to support the new Soyuz-2 rocket. The crew consisted of a Russian commander, an American flight engineer, and the first Emirati astronaut. To celebrate this event, pictures of the Soyuz launcher and of Hazza Al Mansouri were projected on Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
Hazzaa AlMansoori (Arabic: هَزَّاع ٱلْمَنْصُوْرِي, romanized: Hazzāʿ Al-Manṣūrī, surname also spelled "Al Mansoori", full name Hazzaa Ali Abdan Khalfan Al Mansoori is an Emirati astronaut and the first person from the United Arab Emirates in space. In 2019, he embarked on the UAE's first scientific mission to the International Space Station. The mission carried the slogan 'Zayed's Ambition', making the UAE the 19th country worldwide, and the first country in the Arab region, to travel to the ISS. He also became the back-up astronaut for Sultan Al Neyadi for the UAE's second mission to the ISS, which is the longest Arab space mission. Previously, he was the UAE's youngest F-16 fighter pilot.
H.E. Dr. Sultan Saif Al Neyadi is an Emirati astronaut and one of the first two astronauts from the United Arab Emirates, along with Hazza Al Mansouri. He is the first Arab to serve on the International Space Station (ISS) for a 6-month mission, as part of Expedition 69 and the first Arab astronaut to perform a spacewalk. On 6 January 2024, Al Neyadi was appointed as the minister of state for youth in the United Arab Emirates, and was sworn in on 11 January 2024.
Expedition 60 was the 60th Expedition to the International Space Station, which began on 24 June 2019 with the undocking of the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft. The expedition was commanded by Aleksey Ovchinin, who transferred from Expedition 59 together with American flight engineers Nick Hague and Christina Koch. They were joined by Aleksandr Skvortsov, Luca Parmitano and Andrew Morgan, who arrived on Soyuz MS-13 on 20 July 2019. The expedition ended on 3 October 2019, when Soyuz MS-12 undocked from the station and Koch, Skvortsov, Parmitano and Morgan transferred to Expedition 61.
The Saudi Space Agency, previously known as the Saudi Space Commission (SSC), is a Saudi independent government entity established by a royal order on December 27, 2018 and elevated to an agency on June 14, 2023. The agency is chaired by Abdullah Alswaha, the Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology.
NASA Astronaut Group 23 was announced on December 6, 2021, with the class reporting for duty some time in 2022. Twelve astronaut candidates were selected, including seven men and five women.
Mohammad AlMulla is an Emirati astronaut and one of the candidates selected as part of the second batch of the UAE Astronaut Programme. He graduated from the NASA Astronaut Candidate Class training programme and received the astronaut pin in 2024, establishing him as a fully qualified astronaut prepared for future space missions.
SpaceX Crew-6 was the sixth crewed operational NASA Commercial Crew flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the ninth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission launched on 2 March 2023 at 05:34:14 UTC, and it successfully docked to the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 March 2023 at 06:40 UTC. The Crew-6 mission transported four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). Two NASA astronauts, a United Arab Emirates astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut were assigned to the mission. The two NASA astronauts are Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg. The cosmonaut, Andrey Fedyaev, was reassigned from Soyuz MS-23. Sultan Al Neyadi was the commander of the United Arab Emirates' mission on the flight.
Events in the year 2023 in Saudi Arabia.
Expedition 69 was the 69th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the uncrewed departure of Soyuz MS-22 in March 2023 with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev continuing his ISS command from Expedition 68. It ended with his departure with his crewmates onboard Soyuz MS-23 on 27 September 2023.
Ali AlQarni is a Saudi astronaut, selected for Axiom Mission 2 by the Saudi Space Agency; his selection was officially announced on February 12, 2023.
