SpaceX successfully launched the second private mission by Axiom Space to the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday. 

The spacecraft carried two Saudi astronauts to Space Station, including the first female astronauts from the country and two others. The Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Rayyanah Barnawi, a breast cancer researcher from Saudi Arabia, was joined on Sunday’s mission by fellow Saudi Ali al-Qarni, a fighter pilot. The pair are the first Saudi astronauts to voyage into space since a Saudi prince launched aboard shuttle Discovery in 1985. The team also includes Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who will be making her fourth flight to the ISS, and John Shoffner, a businessman from Tennessee who is serving as a pilot.

The four should arrive at the space station on Monday morning in their capsule; they'll stay there for just over a week before returning to Earth with a splashdown off the coast of Florida. The four astronauts will join three Russians, three Americans, and Emirati astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi, who was the first Arab national to go on a spacewalk last month.

The four will strive to further the construction of the commercial space station that private aerospace firm Axiom Space has planned. The four astronauts will be working and living in the orbiting laboratory to implement a full manifest of science, outreach, and commercial activities.

During their time in the zero-gravity lab, the four astronauts will conduct significant studies to learn how microgravity impacts stem cells and thick tissue structures. Their efforts are directed at identifying illnesses and creating treatments for individuals on Earth. The four-person team will conduct about 20 experiments while aboard the ISS.

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. After decades of rejecting it, NASA officially supports space tourism with two planned commercial trips each year. It has been done periodically for years by the Russian Space Agency.

Image source: SpaceX