Saudi astronauts, including nation's 1st woman, catch private flight to space station

T minus 10 987654321. Its full power and lift off Falcon nine go action copy one alpha. Together we expand what is possible in low earth orbit at Astra and Godspeed *** X two B plus 30 seconds into this historic B plus 36 2nd, 36 seconds in the flight. *** great deal of Falcon nine heading to space tree. No one down telemetry nominal. We're into the throttle bucket is the first stage is throttle down power on the Merlin engines in preparation for Max Q Falcon own *** supersonic faster than the speed of sound as we're getting great views from the first stage camera. Looking back at Kennedy Space Center Complex 39 *** stage one to Q out of the throttle bucket, one bravo, copy one bravo. We're at full power and not call out one bravo. That's another one of those abort modes as we get higher and faster. The logic for drug and should *** contingency occur? Changes from stage to stage. It under announcement says we are getting the turbo pump on the second stage engine cooled down in preparation for its light up coming up in just another minute from now again, great views. Looking back and you can see the contrail as we left 39 *** in the shadow of the contrail against the cloud deck around Florida. Now we're coming up three big sequences and *** view live of the crew inside Dragon. They're getting ready. We're going to get three events here. Main engine cut off stage and then we're going to light the second stage engine. We've heard the throttle down in preparation for stage separation. You go alpha state separation, confirm copy two albums and back initially. Stage one was back start up. All right, stage separation. We've lit the second stage engine. The first stage is into the boot back burn working its way back towards Cape Canaveral on the left side. That's the first stage engines running as we come back to the launch site or the landing site. Second stage engine nozzle is visible on the right side is we're powering the axiom two crew into low earth orbit on the way to the International Space station waiting for call out that the boost back burn is complete. Stage one this back shut down right on time. First stage completed the first of three burns heading back to the landing site. Second stage continuing on power and on trajectory acquisition be head northeast the Bermuda ground station space trajectory nominal Bermuda is listening to the nominal trajectory and the crew here's the call out of *** nominal trajectory. So four minutes into flight, everything continuing to go. Well, first stage heading back and there's the crew on the second stage getting the ride into orbit to the space station coming up. We're waiting for the next trajectory. Call out from the guidance officer Dragon space six trajectory nominal. Uh love to hear those words, *** nominal trajectory for dragon nominal trajectory and maybe even *** little bit of excitement in the crew's voice. Commander Peggy Whitson, calling back down, hearing that call out from G N C of *** nominal trajectory left side of the screen, you can see the first stage it's now beginning to orient itself so that the engines are pointed down towards the land as we will be descending towards landing zone one in Cape Canaveral, the four titanium grid fins have all deployed. They'll help guide, guide the first stage through the once we get into the atmosphere following the entry burn, which will be coming up here in another couple of minutes. On the right hand side, the second stage with the dragon capsule on top heading up the eastern seaboard of the US. We've just heard the call out of Boston. That's the new Hampshire tracking station has picked up the signal dragon SpaceX trajectory nominal. You can't see continuing to make those calls that we want to hear everything continuing to look good and the crew echoing them right back down good with the crew we've been able to bring some live video shots from inside the capsule as they're headed to space. And there's another view of the crew stage one entry burn start up and there we heard that the startup burn for that stage one booster. You can see it there on the left hand side of your screen has now begun. Stage one entry burn shut down. And conclusion of that entry burn that burn helps to slow the vehicle down as it re enters the earth's atmosphere. The first day, the first stage sees high drag which scrubs roughly 70% of the velocity by the time the trajectory nominal. Love to hear that call out everything on the trajectory. Beautiful view of planet earth coming to us from the second stage views on the right hand side, left hand side. Our first view of the space coast. Once again, this booster is attempting *** landing at LZ one. *** booster is now traveling near the speed of sound by view. Coming to you from one of our tracking cameras. We can see the grid fins actuating to help steer the booster down. Stage one landing. First stage two F DS has saved standing by to stage one landing like deploy concern. You can see that her stage has landed back at L Z one. This is the first time that we have performed *** land landing on *** crew mission coming up. Coming up next will be second engine cut off or CEO. And that's where after, after that engine cuts off, the second stage will coast for *** few minutes until Dragon is commanded to separate. Stage two is in terminal guidance. We are expecting sco to occur in about 20 seconds. Shannon copy Shannon Commander Peggy Woodson continuing to call out the abort modes. All right, on time shutdown of that second engine also confirming that the launch escape system is now disarmed Dragon SpaceX nominal orbit insertion. Right. And there's that call out, we can confirm good orbital insertion. Nominal Dragon space X launch escape system disarmed.

Saudi Arabia's first astronauts in decades rocketed toward the International Space Station on a chartered multimillion-dollar flight Sunday.Video above: See footage from the launchSpaceX launched the ticket-holding crew, led by a retired NASA astronaut now working for the company that arranged the trip. Also on board: a U.S. businessman who now owns a sports car racing team.The four should reach the space station in their capsule Monday morning; they'll spend just over a week there before returning home with a splashdown off the Florida coast.Sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government, Rayyanah Barnawi, a stem cell researcher, became the first woman from the kingdom to go to space. She was joined by Ali al-Qarni, a fighter pilot with the Royal Saudi Air Force.They're the first from their country to ride a rocket since a Saudi prince launched aboard shuttle Discovery in 1985. In a quirk of timing, they'll be greeted at the station by an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates."This is a dream come true for everyone," Barnawi said before the flight. "Just being able to understand that this is possible. If me and Ali can do it, then they can do it, too."Video below: Ax-2 crew heads to International Space StationRounding out the visiting crew: Knoxville, Tennessee's John Shoffner, former driver and owner of a sports car racing team that competes in Europe, and chaperone Peggy Whitson, the station's first female commander who holds the U.S. record for most accumulated time in space: 665 days and counting."It was a phenomenal ride," Whitson said after reaching orbit. Her crewmates clapped their hands in joy. It's the second private flight to the space station organized by Houston-based Axiom Space. The first was last year by three businessmen, with another retired NASA astronaut. The company plans to start adding its own rooms to the station in another few years, eventually removing them to form a stand-alone outpost available for hire.Axiom won't say how much Shoffner and Saudi Arabia are paying for the planned 10-day mission. The company had previously cited a ticket price of $55 million each.NASA's latest price list shows per-person, per-day charges of $2,000 for food and up to $1,500 for sleeping bags and other gear. Need to get your stuff to the space station in advance? Figure roughly $10,000 per pound ($20,000 per kilogram), the same fee for trashing it afterward. Need your items back intact? Double the price.At least the email and video links are free.The guests will have access to most of the station as they conduct experiments, photograph Earth and chat with schoolchildren back home, demonstrating how kites fly in space when attached to a fan. Video below: Ax-2 mission successfully lifts off from Cape CanaveralAfter decades of shunning space tourism, NASA now embraces it with two private missions planned a year. The Russian Space Agency has been doing it, off and on, for decades."Our job is to expand what we do in low-Earth orbit across the globe," said NASA's space station program manager Joel Montalbano.SpaceX's first-stage booster landed back at Cape Canaveral eight minutes after liftoff, to be recycled for a future flight. “It was a very, very exciting day,” especially seeing the booster return to the launch site, said Axiom’s chief technology officer, Matt Ondler. Now comes the rest of the mission, he noted, “all toward a path of what we think the future of low-Earth orbit is.”

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —

Saudi Arabia's first astronauts in decades rocketed toward the International Space Station on a chartered multimillion-dollar flight Sunday.

Video above: See footage from the launch

SpaceX launched the ticket-holding crew, led by a retired NASA astronaut now working for the company that arranged the trip. Also on board: a U.S. businessman who now owns a sports car racing team.

The four should reach the space station in their capsule Monday morning; they'll spend just over a week there before returning home with a splashdown off the Florida coast.

Sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government, Rayyanah Barnawi, a stem cell researcher, became the first woman from the kingdom to go to space. She was joined by Ali al-Qarni, a fighter pilot with the Royal Saudi Air Force.

They're the first from their country to ride a rocket since a Saudi prince launched aboard shuttle Discovery in 1985. In a quirk of timing, they'll be greeted at the station by an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates.

"This is a dream come true for everyone," Barnawi said before the flight. "Just being able to understand that this is possible. If me and Ali can do it, then they can do it, too."

Video below: Ax-2 crew heads to International Space Station

Rounding out the visiting crew: Knoxville, Tennessee's John Shoffner, former driver and owner of a sports car racing team that competes in Europe, and chaperone Peggy Whitson, the station's first female commander who holds the U.S. record for most accumulated time in space: 665 days and counting.

"It was a phenomenal ride," Whitson said after reaching orbit. Her crewmates clapped their hands in joy.

It's the second private flight to the space station organized by Houston-based Axiom Space. The first was last year by three businessmen, with another retired NASA astronaut. The company plans to start adding its own rooms to the station in another few years, eventually removing them to form a stand-alone outpost available for hire.

Axiom won't say how much Shoffner and Saudi Arabia are paying for the planned 10-day mission. The company had previously cited a ticket price of $55 million each.

NASA's latest price list shows per-person, per-day charges of $2,000 for food and up to $1,500 for sleeping bags and other gear. Need to get your stuff to the space station in advance? Figure roughly $10,000 per pound ($20,000 per kilogram), the same fee for trashing it afterward. Need your items back intact? Double the price.

At least the email and video links are free.

The guests will have access to most of the station as they conduct experiments, photograph Earth and chat with schoolchildren back home, demonstrating how kites fly in space when attached to a fan.

Video below: Ax-2 mission successfully lifts off from Cape Canaveral

After decades of shunning space tourism, NASA now embraces it with two private missions planned a year. The Russian Space Agency has been doing it, off and on, for decades.

"Our job is to expand what we do in low-Earth orbit across the globe," said NASA's space station program manager Joel Montalbano.

SpaceX's first-stage booster landed back at Cape Canaveral eight minutes after liftoff, to be recycled for a future flight.

“It was a very, very exciting day,” especially seeing the booster return to the launch site, said Axiom’s chief technology officer, Matt Ondler. Now comes the rest of the mission, he noted, “all toward a path of what we think the future of low-Earth orbit is.”

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