Space mission with Saudi astronauts returns to Earth

MERRITT ISLAND, Florida – A space capsule with two Saudi astronauts aboard returned to Earth late Tuesday night

The SpaceX capsule landed off the coast of Florida, completing the second private mission to the International Space Station.

Rayyanah Barnawi, the first Saudi woman in space, her compatriot Ali Al-Qarni, and Americans Peggy Whitson and John Shoffner waved happily at the cameras after the hatch opened.

They spent eight days at the orbiting outpost.

Their trip was organized by Axiom Space, which chartered the mission with NASA.

“Welcome back to Earth,” tweeted NASA -Chief Bill Nelson.

The four-person crew conducted more than 20 research experiments and served as test subjects to better understand the effects of microgravity on the human body.

They were also part of research to develop technologies that can support future human spaceflight.

Reports said that Barnawi, a specialist in breast cancer research, did studies on human immune cells and their inflammatory response in microgravity.

Qarni was tasked to research that involved studying different cloud seeding techniques in microgravity conditions.

He mixed salt crystals and moist air in a reaction chamber to see if water droplets would form.

The Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2) crew lifted off May 21 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.

The company conducted its first private mission to the International Space Station last April.

Crew members reportedly paid tens of millions for their tickets.

According to media reports, the mission was something of a publicity coup for Saudi Arabia, whose ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is eager to project a friendlier image around the world.

NASA is now focusing on missions deeper into space, such as returning to the moon with humans and then on to Mars.