Space the final frontier for Otago Uni alumna

A University of Otago alumna made history yesterday after becoming the first woman from Saudi Arabia to lift off into space.

Rayyanah Barnawi (33) was an international student and completed a bachelor of biomedical science degree majoring in reproduction, genetics and development from the university in 2011.

Rayyanah Barnawi just before the mission. PHOTOS: REUTERS

Miss Barnawi will facilitate Saudi Arabia’s scientific research as a mission specialist for the Ax-2, the second all-private astronaut mission to the International Space Station for Axiom Space.

She will focus on stem cell and breast cancer research on the Ax-2 mission, after nine years spent researching for the tissue re-engineering programme at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon Capsule carrying the first Saudi Arabian woman in space, Rayyanah Barnawi (above), and three other crew members lifts off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida yesterday.

Axiom Space said Miss Barnawi was part of a four-person multinational crew that would conduct extensive research and investigate novel technologies on the "orbiting laboratory".

The crew’s efforts would help to establish Axiom Station, the world’s first commercial space station.

The university’s acting vice-chancellor Prof Helen Nicholson said the university was extremely proud of Miss Barnawi and it wished her a successful and safe journey in space.

mark.john@odt.co.nz