The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, (KACST) on Thursday launched a website to mark the 30th anniversary of the giant strides it has taken in space and aviation which began in 1985 with the participation of Prince Sultan bin Salman in the shuttle Discovery’s STS-51G space flight as the first Arab Muslim astronaut.
The site is full of information about the field of space and exploration, satellite events around the world, and the contributions made by Prince Sultan, who is now the president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage and vice president of the World Tourism Organization.
The site can be accessed at www.ksaspace.org. It reviews the Saudi experience in the field of space, and the details of Discovery flight STS-51G, a summary and presentation on the trip, and the beginnings of space exploration through the US space agency, NASA.
The website includes documented visuals of the most important events in the field of space and aviation, including the celebration, which was recently organized by NASA in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of America, KACST and Saudi Aramco, in the presence of Prince Sultan, KACST President Prince Dr. Turki bin Saud Al-Saud, NASA Administrator Gen. Charles F. Bolden and other astronauts.
The site includes the book on “One Planet … The story of the first Arab Mission to space,” written by Prince Sultan, which recounts his experiences as the first Arab astronaut to visit outer space.
The book recounts a number of episodes and events that have not been mentioned before about the journey of the prince to outer space 30 years ago, and how he came to turn his idea of joining the shuttle program into a reality despite the challenges and obstacles he faced before traveling aboard the Discovery space shuttle.
The book provides a wealth of information through its 15 sections on Saudi space scientists and the history of space exploration, highlighting many space and shuttle secrets as space shuttles have been carrying a number of satellites into near-Earth orbit for many years.
During the past three decades, Saudi Arabia has experienced many developments in this area through KACST’s establishment of the Saudi Center for Remote Sensing which was the nucleus of KACST’s Institute for Space Research and the beginning of cooperation with the US space agency, NASA, through the Challenger Space Mission to explore the Empty Quarter desert.
Since that momentous moment, the Kingdom continued its solid march in this area where it initiated the National Satellite Technology Program, the Aviation Technology Program, the Geographic Information Systems Center, the Digital Studies Center at KACST and enrolling them within the National Science and Technology Comprehensive Plan.
The Kingdom has also created specialized departments in universities for space science and mechanical engineering; these universities include King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, King Saud University, King Abdulaziz, University, and King Abdullah University for Science and Technology. These departments allow graduate specialists to study in areas of science and space research, but ambitions remain to develop and update studies in these departments.
During the past decade, the Kingdom, through KACST, designed and manufactured 13 satellites, as well as created the Saudi Lunar and Near-Earth Object Excellence Center with NASA, and the Joint Excellence Center for Space and Aviation Research with Stanford University.
