The first Arab astronaut, the first Muslim to go into space, was Sultan bin Salman al-Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family. He is the grandson of King Abdulaziz bin Saud, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and the nephew of the next four kings (Saud, Faisal, Khalid and Fahd) and the current one, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. He was educated in the United States, graduating from the University of Syracuse. Since 1982, he worked in the Department of International Relations of the Ministry of Information of the KSA, dealing with the use of artificial satellites for receiving information in the KSA and transmitting information about the KSA to foreign countries. On June 17-26, 1985, he participated in the space flight of the space shuttle Discovery as a payload specialist. In the same year, he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the KSA Air Force. He has a civil aviation pilot's certificate and jet aviation pilot qualification. In April 2009, he headed the Ministry (Commission) for Tourism and Antiquities. The magazine publishes interviews with Sultan bin Salman al-Saud. Question: You are the first Arab cosmonaut, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, and the first Muslim to be honored with a spacewalk. Why did NASA choose you, and not another representative of the Arab world, to make the space flight on Discovery? Was Saudi Arabia scientifically and technologically ready to take part in such a space project at that time? Answer. Employees of the Arab satellite communications organization Arabsat* were very excited to learn about the possibility of sending an Arab astronaut into space. At the same time, they had no idea who exactly could participate in this pilot project. The question of choosing a candidate turned out to be very difficult. 22 Arab states take part in space research, and, of course, each of them would like to see their compatriot in space. It took very difficult and sensitive negotiations to agree on the views of the parties and reach a comm ... Read more