Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (born 27 June 1956) is a former Royal Saudi Air Force pilot who flew aboard the American STS-51-G Space Shuttle mission as a payload specialist, and a member of the House of Saud. He is thus the first member of a royal family to be an astronaut, and the first Arab and Muslim to fly in space.
STS-51-G was the eighteenth flight of the shuttle program and fifth for Space Shuttle Discovery. Sultan Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia was on board as a payload specialist; he became the first Arab, the first Muslim and first member of a royal family to fly into space. It was the first shuttle flight to fly without an astronaut from the pre-Shuttle era. Its mission was to deploy 3 10 satellites.
Low Earth OrbitThe Space Research Institute of Saudi Arabia is committed to space research for Suadi Arabia. Their space agency is chaired by Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, the first and only Saudi man to go to space aboard the STS-51-G for 7 days.