Saudi Arabia's first astronauts in decades have rocketed toward the International Space Station on a chartered multi-million-dollar flight, ABC News reports.
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 US businessman who now owns a sports car racing team.
After the four reach the space station in their capsule, they will spend just over a week there before returning home with a splashdown off the Florida coast.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the Dragon capsule and a crew of four private astronauts lifts off.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at the Kennedy Space Center.(AP: Terry Renna)
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 will be greeted at the station by an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates.
