News from the Middle East strongly says that the government of Saudi Arabia is planning to send 2 astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) using a rocket created by Elon Musk's company, SpaceX.
According to an inside source who did not want to be identified, the Riyadh government is working on an agreement with Houston's Axiom Space which is responsible for organizing private missions to space for research or tourism purposes.
It is understood that the agreement will place 2 astronauts from Saudi Arabia in SpaceX's Crew Dragon rocket that will depart for the ISS early next year.
If the news spread is true, then Saudi Arabia will be one of the first Gulf* countries to carry out a private space mission.
*An intergovernmental, political and economic regional union comprising Bahrain; Kuwait; Oman; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; and the United Arab Emirates.
However, Axiom and the Saudi Space Commission did not comment further on the agreement.
In the meantime, different sources say that the two representatives of Saudi Arabia will be joined by retired Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson and race car driver John Shoffner.
The space mission labeled AX-2 will be the 2nd rocket flight planned by Axiom, its first mission was in April by sending 4 personnel to the ISS using Crew Dragon.
In addition, there are rumors that Turkey will use the Axiom service to send its 2 astronauts into space at the end of 2023.
