Reuters news agency quoted well-informed sources as saying that Saudi Arabia is planning to launch two astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a space capsule from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, becoming the latest Gulf nation to strengthen ties with private U.S. space companies.
According to three people familiar with the arrangement, the deal will provide two Saudi astronauts seats aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule for a 2023 voyage to the International Space Station, where the astronauts will remain for roughly one week.
Space tourism, not scientific discovery!
Saudi Arabia reportedly signed the agreement earlier this year with Texas-based spaceflight company Axiom Space, which arranges and manages private space missions for researchers and tourists.
The astronauts would be the first Saudi’s to travel into space aboard a private spacecraft. They will reportedly be joined by two Americans, according to Reuters, retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and race car driver and investor John Shoffner, who purchased a tourist ticket for the mission.
Private space companies such as Axiom are infringing on a uniquely diplomatic position between the US and other nations, which was traditionally controlled by NASA, Reuters reported.
The private astronauts aboard Ax-2 have yet to be approved by a NASA-chaired panel of the space station’s participating stakeholders and countries, such as Russia, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency, a US official said. The official added that the mission is likely to receive approval.
The mission will be the second space trip arranged by Axiom, according to Reuters’ sources. However, SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The space station is a football field-sized laboratory some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth that has housed international crews of astronauts for over 20 years.
100 million space ticket!
The value of Axiom’s Saudi agreement was not clear. Each Crew Dragon seat on Axiom’s first mission sold for $55 million each.
For Axiom and other space companies, cutting deals with foreign governments is seen as vital to sustaining a business centered on putting people in space. Putting people into space is a luxury for wealthy adventure seekers and a source of national prestige and inspiration for aspiring space powers like Saudi Arabia.
Space whitewash
The report sparked a wave of social media comments, considering the plan as part of the Vision 2030 introduced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
The social media activists said that the Saudi government is using the space mission to deflect attention from its pervasive human rights abuses.
The Saudi Crown Pince has spent billions of dollars hosting major entertainment, cultural, and sporting events as a deliberate strategy to deflect from its ugly image as a pervasive human rights violators.
