First Saudi Woman among Visitors to the International Space Station
2023-05-23
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1Two private astronauts from Saudi Arabia, including the nation's first woman, arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday after taking off from Florida on Sunday.
2Rayyanah Barnawi is a stem cell researcher.
3She is the first Saudi woman to go to space.
4She and Ali al-Qarni, a military airplane pilot, became the first people from their country to go to space since 1985.
5Two Americans were also on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
6SpaceX is the company started by businessman Elon Musk.
7The private group will stay on the ISS for one week before returning to Earth.
8After reaching orbit, Barnawi said: "Hello from outer space. It feels amazing to be viewing Earth from this capsule."
9John Shoffner also was on board.
10He is an American who owns a car racing team.
11The group's leader is Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who spent over 600 days on the ISS.
12"It was a phenomenal ride," Whitson said.
13Axiom Space purchased the ride from SpaceX and organized the trip.
14The company would not say the cost of the trip, but earlier price lists noted a cost of $55 million per person.
15Once arriving at the ISS, NASA has a price list, too.
16It costs $2,000 per person, per day for food. Sleeping materials, such as a sleeping bag, are $1,500.
17The cost to transport other items such as research tools are about $20,000 per kilogram each way.
18The astronauts will conduct experiments, talk with students, and photograph Earth while on the ISS.
19NASA once said it would not participate in space tourism.
20However, it is now running two trips per year. Russia's space agency also permits space tourists.
21After the launch, SpaceX's first stage booster of the Falcon 9 rocket landed back at Cape Canaveral eight minutes later.
22"It was a very, very exciting day," said Matt Onder of Axiom.
23I'm Dan Friedell.
1Two private astronauts from Saudi Arabia, including the nation's first woman, arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday after taking off from Florida on Sunday. 2Rayyanah Barnawi is a stem cell researcher. She is the first Saudi woman to go to space. She and Ali al-Qarni, a military airplane pilot, became the first people from their country to go to space since 1985. 3Two Americans were also on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX is the company started by businessman Elon Musk. 4The private group will stay on the ISS for one week before returning to Earth. 5After reaching orbit, Barnawi said: "Hello from outer space. It feels amazing to be viewing Earth from this capsule." 6John Shoffner also was on board. He is an American who owns a car racing team. The group's leader is Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who spent over 600 days on the ISS. 7"It was a phenomenal ride," Whitson said. 8Axiom Space purchased the ride from SpaceX and organized the trip. The company would not say the cost of the trip, but earlier price lists noted a cost of $55 million per person. 9Once arriving at the ISS, NASA has a price list, too. It costs $2,000 per person, per day for food. Sleeping materials, such as a sleeping bag, are $1,500. The cost to transport other items such as research tools are about $20,000 per kilogram each way. 10The astronauts will conduct experiments, talk with students, and photograph Earth while on the ISS. 11NASA once said it would not participate in space tourism. However, it is now running two trips per year. Russia's space agency also permits space tourists. 12After the launch, SpaceX's first stage booster of the Falcon 9 rocket landed back at Cape Canaveral eight minutes later. 13"It was a very, very exciting day," said Matt Onder of Axiom. 14I'm Dan Friedell. 15Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by the Associated Press. 16____________________________________________________________________ 17Words in This Story 18capsule -n. the part of a spacecraft in which people live and work 19phenomenal -adj. (informal) very good 20participate -v. to take part 21booster -n. part of a rocket that provides power for launch and then is no longer needed 22exciting -adj. very interesting 23____________________________________________________________________ 24We want to hear from you. What would you do if you got to go to the space station? 25Here is how our comment system works: 26Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.