Space station astronauts celebrated the arrival of the second-ever private mission to the orbiting lab.
Addressing Alqarni and Barnawi — the first Saudi astronauts ever to reach the ISS — Prokopyev said,"My big congratulations [to the] Saudi Space Commission. I'm sure you will have a great achievement in the future in your space exploration."to fly to the final frontier. So it's appropriate that Barnawi is flying with Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who has spent more time in space than any other American and any other woman. That tally stood at 665 days before Ax-2 lifted off.
He passed Whitson the mic after his opening remarks."It's a lot of fun to be here and to see this place again. It means so much to me," Whitson said. She then allowed the remaining three Ax-2 crew members to introduce themselves and say some words of their own. "I'd like to thank NASA for creating the opportunity in opening the doors for private and commercial space exploration, and also the ingenuity of SpaceX andto develop the next level of space platforms and space access for everyone," said Shoffner, a paying customer on this mission, adding that flying in space fulfills a lifelong dream for him.
Shoffner added that he and his Ax-2 crewmates are eager for the research the group will get to conduct in orbit. In total, Ax-2 will participate in over 20 projects while aboard the space station. "We look forward to some great work for STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] education outreach and some amazing science that we have going on up here, and I hope you guys will follow us," Shoffner said.
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