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On This Day In Space: June 17, 1985: First Arab and Muslim in Space

On June 17, 1985, the space shuttle Discovery launched on NASA’s STS-51G mission, carrying payload specialist Sultan Salman Abdelize Al Saud, a Royal Saudi Air Force pilot who became the first Arab and first Muslim in space.

And because he was a prince in the House of Saud, he became the first member of a royal family to go to space.

Saudi astronaut Sultan Salman Abdelize Al-Saud, a Saudi prince, logs notes while floating in the middeck of space shuttle discovery during the STS-51G mission to deploy the Arabsat-1B communications satellite in June 1985. (Image credit: NASA)

He was 28 years old at the time and holds the record for being the youngest person to fly on the space shuttle.

During the mission, he helped deploy a communications satellite called ARABSAT-1B for the Arab Satellite Communications Organization.

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