Saudi Arabia’s two astronauts Ali al-Qarni and Rayyanah Barnawi and their fellow crew from the Axiom 2 space mission executed their first full day of science operations and media outreach on Wednesday.
They began sharing updates on their efforts on the International Space Station (ISS) on their social media accounts
Barnawi – the first Saudi woman in space and the first Arab woman on board ISS – began conducting experiments into a wide range of nanomaterial therapeutic applications, such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine.
Axiom – the company behind the private spaceflight – said Barnawi completed the experiment, producing the first DNA Nanomaterials on the ISS.
Al-Qarni and Barnawi also performed a test run of the DreamUp Nanoracks Space Kite payload, which will demonstrate the aerodynamic behavior of kites in microgravity.
DreamUp provides space-based educational programs to learners and educators around the globe. During the Ax-2 mission, DreamUp, in collaboration with the Saudi Space Commission and Nanoracks, will fly three experiments to be conducted in microgravity to educate students.
These visual experiments will demonstrate differences in fluid behavior on Earth and in microgravity, explore the aerodynamic behavior of different kite shapes on the ISS, and showcase the effects of the external environment of space on the available modes of heat transfer
The four-strong Ax-2 crew also collected samples for the Nebula Human Research investigation. This is part of a portfolio of projects that will look at how humans adapt and respond to spaceflight to better understand human physiology in microgravity, which will contribute to an understanding of how to keep humans healthy in space.