Saudi Arabia has purchased two round-trip tickets to the International Space Station aboard one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX capsules, according to a report.
The deal will provide two Saudi astronauts seats aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule for a 2023 voyage to the International Space Station, where the astronauts will remain for roughly one week, according to Reuters.
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Saudi Arabia reportedly signed the agreement earlier this year with Texas-based spaceflight company Axiom Space, which arranges and manages private space missions for researchers and tourists.
It’s unknown how much the Gulf nation paid for the seats aboard the SpaceX capsule, but seats for Axiom’s first mission using Crew Dragon sold for $55 million apiece.
The astronauts would be the first Saudis to travel into space aboard a private spacecraft. The will reportedly be joined by two Americans, according to Reuters, retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and race car driver and investor John Shoffner, who purchased a tourist ticket for the mission.
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Earlier this week, Axiom announced that it had signed a deal with Turkey to launch the country’s first two astronauts into space in late 2023.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Axiom Space and SpaceX for comment.
