Out of this world welcome for landmark astronaut arrivals on International Space Station
The International Space Station has rolled out the welcome mat for two Saudi visitors, including the kingdom's first female astronaut.
SpaceX's chartered flight arrived at the orbiting lab less than 16 hours after blasting off from Florida. The four guests will spend just over a week there, before returning to Earth in their capsule.
The 430km-high docking puts the space station population at 11, representing not only Saudi Arabia and the US, but also the United Arab Emirates and Russia.
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In this image from NASA TV, Ali al-Qarni, second from left, and Rayyanah Barnawi of Saudi Arabia, second right, have a drink alongside two cosmonauts in the International Space Station. AP
"This shows how space brings everyone together," said Saudi Arabia's first female astronaut, Rayyanah Barnawi, a stem cell researcher.
"I'm going to live this experience to the max."
Saudi fighter pilot Ali al-Qarni dedicated the visit to everyone back home.
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Barnawi said she would live the experience "to the max". AP
"This mission is not just for me and Rayyanah. This mission is also for the people with ambition and dreams," he said.
The Saudi government is picking up the multimillion-dollar tab for both of them.
John Shoffner, a Knoxville, Tennessee, businessman who started a sports car racing team, is paying his own way.
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The SpaceX launch yesterday. SpaceX
In this image from NASA TV, the sun rises over the International Space Station after the SpaceX capsule docked. AP
Retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is their chaperone. She now works for Axiom Space, the Houston company that organized the 10-day trip, its second to the space station.
The company cited ticket prices of US$55 million ($82.7 million) each for last year's private trip by three businessmen, but won't say how much the latest seats cost.
Only one other Saudi has flown before in space, a prince who rode on NASA's shuttle Discovery in 1985.
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