Sultan bin Salman Al Saud
Saudi - (KACST-SRI)
Retired
Date of Birth: June 27, 1956
Age: 69
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.
Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-51-G
National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of AmericaKennedy Space Center, FL, USA
June 17, 1985, 11:33 a.m.
Status: Success
Mission:
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.
Falcon 9
Starlink Group 10-54
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USAA batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
H3-30
H3-30 Test Flight
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-2 - Tanegashima Space Center, JapanTest flight of the H3-30 variant of the H3 launch vehicle with 3 LE-9 engines in the first stage and no SRBs. The flight will carry a dummy main payl…
Falcon 9
Starlink Group 17-44
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USAA batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Electron
Curveball
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C) - Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USASub-orbital launch under Rocket Lab’s Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) program, details TBD.
Long March 5
TJSW-25
101 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of ChinaChinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.
