Whitening or spatial landmark? Saudi Arabia already has its first female astronaut in orbit

Scientist Rayyanah Barnawi, 33, has already begun the space journey that makes her Saudi Arabia's first female astronaut. On the night of Sunday to Monday, she could be seen enjoying the first moments in space playing with the weightlessness of her pen. In this way, her country – known for its abusive gender discrimination – enters the select group of eight countries with space women and is placed at the same level as France, Italy or the United Kingdom, countries that have only sent one woman into space in their entire history, and something that Germany or Spain have not achieved.

At 17:37 local time in Florida (23:37 Spanish peninsular time) the Falcon rocket of SpaceX, Elon Musk's company, took off from Cape Canaveral with the crew of the Axiom-2 mission: Barnawi herself, her compatriot, pilot Ali Al Qarni, businessman John Shoffner (racing and air show pilot) and Commander Peggy Whitson, A myth of American astronautics, since he is the person from that country who has spent the most days in space: 665.

Axiom-2 is the second private mission to the International Space Station (ISS), where they are headed on the Dragon spacecraft, on a 16-hour journey (they will spend eight of them sleeping, if they can). Once there, they will spend eight days at the station conducting scientific experiments. The Dragon ship they travel on is called Freedom. The wealthy crew of the Axiom-1 mission, commanded by the Spanish Michael López-Alegría, paid about 50 million euros for their tickets to the ISS, but in this case the price paid is unknown.

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"Honestly, I feel like I'm representing the ambitions of all Saudis, all women and also all scientists. It's a great honor to be able to go into space and, at the same time, do the things you love the most," Barnawi said in a video released by Axiom Space, the Houston company that has sold the two space tickets to Saudi Arabia.

Liftoff of Ax-2! pic.twitter.com/YS3SDuStNy

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 21, 2023

But later, in the same video, Barnawi speaks in Arabic to say: "As Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says, we are a country of dreamers, there is nothing stopping us from making our dreams come true. So dream big and with the help of the crown prince and our nation, we will achieve our goals."

Rayyanah Barnawi is a scientist representing the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as an astronaut on the Axiom-2 mission.

In his case, it is true. Barnawi and Qarni's tickets to the ISS were bought by the Saudi Space Commission, a body under the government led by Prime Minister Bin Salman. Accused of terrible crimes such as that of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi prince received the young researcher and her companion on April 16 at his palace in Jeddah. Interestingly, the first Saudi in space was Sultan bin Salman, half-brother of heir Mohammed bin Salman, who flew on the shuttle Discovery in 1985 to deploy several satellites, including one from his country.

After the meeting between Bin Salman and the astronauts in Jeddah, a note from the state press agency noted that "manned space flights are a symbol of the superiority and global competitiveness of nations" and that "this mission is historic, as it will make the Kingdom one of the few countries in the world to carry two astronauts of the same nationality aboard the International Space Station simultaneously."

Right after, Barnawi, a laboratory specialist with nine years of experience in stem cell and cancer research, posted on Twitter: "The words of His Highness the Crown Prince and Chairman of the Supreme Space Council before our trip to the International Space Station will remain engraved in our hearts." Later, at a pre-launch press conference, Barnawi said: "I feel very honoured and happy to represent all the dreams and hopes of all the people in Saudi Arabia and all the women at home."

In the last year alone, two Saudi women have received very serious prison sentences, precisely for posting their opinions on Twitter. In August 2022, it emerged that Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for her comments on the social network. Three weeks earlier, Salma al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years in prison for regularly tweeting messages in favour of equal rights for women in Saudi Arabia. In June, a law allowing discrimination against women, including through male guardianship, came into force, according to Amnesty International.

Barnawi, left, greets bin Salman at his palace in Jeddah.AFP PHOTO/SAUDI SPACE COMMISSION (AFP)

"One of the astronauts will be a Saudi woman, whose mission to space will represent a historic first for the Kingdom," the Saudi space agency boasted in a statement announcing the deal with Axiom. Is this a whitewashing operation of the dictatorship, using a woman like Barnawi? Or is it a breakthrough in your country? "Barnawi has certainly become an inspiration to the women of the region," Vogue Arabia has published, which ensures that it "will give the women of the Kingdom the opportunity to dream big."

The Saudi participation in Axiom-2 corresponds to a plan to modernize the country undertaken by the powerful heir and prime minister Bin Salman, "which also calls for greater integration of women into the workforce of the conservative Muslim country," according to the AP news agency. In 2018, Saudi women were allowed to drive cars, a decision framed by some activists with the term "purplewashing", which designates those policies that pretend to work in favor of women, but are only an image strategy.

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Bin Salman won't be the last strongman to do politics thanks to Axiom's space passages. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan took advantage of the hard-fought election campaign that may dislodge him from power in his country to announce the name of the Turkish astronaut who will travel to the ISS on the Axiom-3 mission. All these trips of the company Axiom have the support of NASA and the approval of the other countries of the Station, such as Russia, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency. The only requirement is that each mission has a career astronaut at the front, like López-Alegría and Whitson.

The Saudi astronauts will meet on the ISS with Sultan Al Neyadi, a 41-year-old UAE astronaut who became the first Arab to conduct a long-duration space mission, as well as the first to perform a spacewalk, and who is there for a six-month mission. Therefore, three citizens of absolute monarchies backed by petrodollars will coincide in the orbital laboratory. Upon the order to take off, Commander Whitson exclaimed a pun on the ship's name: "Let (the) Freedom fly."

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