Setting the highest example of intelligence and daring, Arab women continue to break barriers in space exploration. Across the region, they are redefining this sector in this world to the next.
Rayannah Barnawi
When Saudi Arabia’s first female astronaut Rayyanah Barnawi also became the first Arab woman to reach the International Space Station (ISS) – the largest modular space station in low Earth orbit – in May 2023, she broke barriers in a way that few could have imagined just some years ago. As the biomedical researcher orbited Earth and conducted stem cell experiments, she understood that she carried with her not only the dreams of the Arab world, but those especially of its women. “When I told my grandmother I was going into space, she gave me her 60-year-old earrings,” confides Barnawi. At the time of her mission to the ISS, she was one of three Arabs to travel alongside fellow Saudi astronaut Ali Alqarni and Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi.
Sara Sabry
Barnawi now joins a growing list of women who have reached space. The first Arab, African, and Egyptian woman to do so was astronaut Sara Sabry. In August 2022, she was selected by Space for Humanity to go on a mission to experience the Overview Effect (observing Earth from space). She says that apart from the physical and psychological challenges of training and the knowledge that every mission is potentially life-threatening, one of the biggest obstacles was overcoming the limiting beliefs that often serve to hold women back: “I grew up in Egypt where every time you try to do something that is considered ‘not normal’ you are told not to do it. They say you are wasting your time, or you won’t belong on that side of the world. They tell you you’re never going to be good enough, it’s going to be too hard for you. These were the words that I was told my entire life. If I was a guy, I would not have ever been told these same things.” Rather than feel discouraged, Sabry used these attitudes to spur herself on, and to use her passion for space to make a difference for humanity. “It’s what’s driven me. It pushes you to do more. You can either choose to let the difficulty get to you and stop you, or you can use it, internalize it, and allow it to push you forward to create this energy and drive and think, today, I’m going to do even better.” Sabry says that seeing earth from space profoundly transformed her perspective on humanity: “Our life opportunities are dictated by our passports. When you see Earth from space, it changes all of that and you realize we are all the same and that humanity is interconnected. It has pushed me to make space more accessible to everyone.”
Lama Al Oraiman
Another woman leading the way when it comes to Arab women in space is Lama Al Oraiman, the 24-year-old co-founder of the first Kuwaiti space exploration and research company. Commenting on the importance of women in space, Al Oraiman says, “We are returning to our heritage. The stars are named in Arabic. The origins of astronomy and space science were not only born in the Arab world, but while the West was in the Dark Ages, Arabs, including women, were illuminating the skies with knowledge.” One such example is Al-‘Ijliyyah bint al-ʻIjliyy, more commonly known as Mariam al-Asṭurlābiyya (nicknamed for the Astrolabe). She was a 10th-century astrolabe maker who was employed by the first Emir of Aleppo in northern Syria. In 1990, American astronomer Henry E. Holt named the main-belt asteroid 7060 Al-Ijiliya in her honor.
Barnawi received by His Highness, Crown Prince of Kuwait, Sheikh Mishaal Al Sabah in Bayan Palace to honor her achievement in winning the Emerging Space Leader Award presented by the International Astronautical Federation
Beyond heritage, Al Oraiman, an award-winning scientist on missions as recently as last year, explains that she was subjected to racism from colleagues who were mostly white European men. “I was in space camps where I was there to conduct experiments and build a rover. I would have men walking into my room unannounced to see what I looked like without a hijab, because they couldn’t believe that I could go into space with one. At times I would be sitting at lunch, and they would casually ask me if I had a bomb. They would comment that I am working in the space field because I would have easy access to rockets, insinuating that I am a terrorist. Or, they would say, ‘You are an Arab woman, of course, you have a man behind you who simply paid for you to be here,’ not acknowledging that I earned my way.” She furthers the importance of recognizing that women in space represent the peak of science and technology. “Those who are chosen to be part of this field have the highest qualifications to work at this level. When you see Arab women who are working in space, know that they are exceptional at what they do. Since we have had Arab women in space, these kinds of attitudes have lessened.”
Al Oraiman received by His Highness, Crown Prince of Kuwait, Sheikh Mishaal Al Sabah in Bayan Palace to honor her achievement in winning the Emerging Space Leader Award presented by the International Astronautical Federation
One such woman pushing the boundaries of space exploration is Her Excellency Sarah Al Amiri, the UAE’s Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology, chair of the UAE Space Agency, and Deputy Project Manager of the Emirates Mars Mission, a long-term unmanned mission to explore the Red Planet. In the lead up to the launch of the Mars Hope Probe, Al Amiri said, “The most pivotal moments in my journey have been saying yes to opportunities that at some point in retrospect seemed absurd. I dared say yes to work on the Emirates Mars Mission, transitioning from someone who worked as an engineer to start developing a science team for space, an area I had little knowledge of. I knew what space systems were about, but little on how to design and develop such a mission. Just the risk that’s associated with that mission, with the Hope Probe developed in just six years with a very limited budget, and knowing when we started that only half of those missions succeed.” And yet, on February 9, 2021, the UAE was catapulted to the forefront of space exploration, when the Mars Hope orbiter mission was launched and the UAE became the fifth country to reach the Red Planet, and the second to do so on a maiden flight. The Hope mission was not just ambitious in terms of scope, but also in terms of gender representation, with Al Amiri’s team being 80% women, an unusually high number in the field of space exploration.
“There is no country in the world where women are not suffering from sexism in one way or another, but the difference is we are working on that,” says Al Oraiman. “We have such strong women and feminist movements that are changing everything. The biggest proof is that Saudi Arabia went from women not driving to women in space within five years. Tell me about your country. Has your country sent women to space? Likely not because only 10 have done that.” Sabry agrees: “What helps is seeing other women in these positions. The more women we have, the more men on our side that we have, the more we can remove this idea that, oh, yeah, women cannot achieve this, or they shouldn’t.” As Barnawi bid an emotional farewell to the ISS after her eight-day mission, she declared: “This is only the beginning of a new era for our country and our region.” Arab women are here to redefine what is possible moving forward, at the speed of light.
Originally published in the July/August 2023 issue of Vogue Arabia
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