[ti:First Saudi Woman among Visitors to the International Space Station]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]Two private astronauts from Saudi Arabia,
[00:03.88]including the nation's first woman,
[00:07.76]arrived at the International Space Station (ISS)
[00:13.64]on Monday after taking off from Florida on Sunday.
[00:20.44]Rayyanah Barnawi is a stem cell researcher.
[00:25.44]She is the first Saudi woman to go to space.
[00:29.60]She and Ali al-Qarni, a military airplane pilot,
[00:35.48]became the first people from their country
[00:39.96]to go to space since 1985.
[00:45.72]Two Americans were also on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
[00:53.00]SpaceX is the company started by businessman Elon Musk.
[00:59.96]The private group will stay on the ISS
[01:04.32]for one week before returning to Earth.
[01:09.56]After reaching orbit, Barnawi said:
[01:13.56]"Hello from outer space.
[01:16.48]It feels amazing to be viewing Earth from this capsule."
[01:22.24]John Shoffner also was on board.
[01:25.92]He is an American who owns a car racing team.
[01:31.56]The group's leader is Peggy Whitson,
[01:35.40]a former NASA astronaut
[01:38.20]who spent over 600 days on the ISS.
[01:42.68]"It was a phenomenal ride," Whitson said.
[01:46.36]Axiom Space purchased the ride
[01:50.60]from SpaceX and organized the trip.
[01:55.36]The company would not say the cost of the trip,
[01:58.24]but earlier price lists noted a cost
[02:02.40]of $55 million per person.
[02:06.56]Once arriving at the ISS, NASA has a price list, too.
[02:12.44]It costs $2,000 per person, per day for food.
[02:18.76]Sleeping materials, such as a sleeping bag, are $1,500.
[02:26.16]The cost to transport other items
[02:29.92]such as research tools are
[02:32.40]about $20,000 per kilogram each way.
[02:37.84]The astronauts will conduct experiments, talk with students,
[02:42.88]and photograph Earth while on the ISS.
[02:48.64]NASA once said it would not participate in space tourism.
[02:55.00]However, it is now running two trips per year.
[03:00.40]Russia's space agency also permits space tourists.
[03:06.68]After the launch, SpaceX's first stage booster
[03:11.92]of the Falcon 9 rocket
[03:14.56]landed back at Cape Canaveral eight minutes later.
[03:18.80]"It was a very, very exciting day,"
[03:22.00]said Matt Onder of Axiom.
[03:24.88]I'm Dan Friedell. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM