Saudi astronaut Ali al-Qarni shares photo of Riyadh from space

Saudi astronaut Ali al-Qarni shared a spectacular photo of Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh from space on his Twitter account on Sunday.

Astronauts al-Qarni and Rayyanah Barnawi have made history as the first ever Saudi nationals to be sent to the International Space Station (ISS).

Both astronauts have been taking to social media to document their adventures in outter space.

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“Riyadh is shining even in space,” al-Qarni tweeted along with a photo of the Saudi flag inside the space station.

لاح لي وجه الرياض في مرايا السحب 🌌
مساكم الله بالخير ياهل الرياض! هذه صورة التقطناها من محطة الفضاء الدولية للعاصمة 🛰#نحو_الفضاء
Riyadh is shining even in space 🌌
!Good evening, people of Riyadh
This is a photo I took of our capital from the ISS 🛰️#KSA2Space pic.twitter.com/KQASxdeqG3

— Ali Alqarni (@AstroAli11) May 28, 2023

Meanwhile on Friday, Barnawi, the first Saudi woman to journey into space and the first Arab woman on board the ISS, shared a video of Mecca from space captioned, “the whole Kingdom is shining.”

بعد ما خلصت تجاربي لليوم صادف مرورنا فوق مكة المكرمة ،
نور على نور ✨ #نحو_الفضاء
Makkah from the space ✨#KSA2Space pic.twitter.com/rh3kZnJw0N

— RAYYANAH BARNAWI (@Astro_Rayyanah) May 26, 2023

Saudi Arabia made history last week after sending the two astronauts to the ISS from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This mission makes the Kingdom the first nation not part of the official International Space Station partnership to have two astronauts aboard at the same time.

During this mission, Barnawi and al-Qarni are conducting groundbreaking experiments and research including cancer prevention and prediction, microgravity, cloud seeding, cells reprograming and more.

In a recent interview with Al Arabiya English, Saudi Space commissioner Dr. Haithem Altwaijri said this mission will also serve as an inspiration to young Arabs studying science, tech, math and engineering (STEM) subjects.

Al Arabiya English’s Jennifer Bell contributed to this report.

Read more:

Giant leap for Kingdom: Saudi astronauts make history as they enter ISS

‘Lift off’: Saudi astronauts – including Arab world’s first female – blast into space

Meet the first ever Saudi astronauts to head to the International Space Station