Sultan bin Salman Al Saud

Sultan bin Salman Al Saud (; Sulṭān bin Salmān Āl Suʿūd; born 27 June 1956) is a Saudi prince and former Royal Saudi Air Force pilot who flew aboard the American STS-51-G Space Shuttle mission as a payload specialist. He is the first member of a royal family to fly in space, the first Arab to fly in space, and the first Muslim to fly in space, as well as (at 28 years old) the youngest person ever to fly on the Space Shuttle. On 27 December 2018, he was appointed as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Space Commission at the rank of minister. He is the eldest surviving son of King Salman. Early life and education Sultan was born in Riyadh on 27 June 1956, as the second son of Prince Salman, then governor of Riyadh province (currently King of Saudi Arabia). His mother was Sultana bint Turki Al Sudairi. She was a daughter of King Salman's uncle, Turki bin Ahmed Al Sudairi, who was one of the former governors of al-Jouf, Jizan and Asir Province and was a participant in the unification campaign under his cousin, the founder of the Kingdom Abdulaziz ibn Saud. Prince Sultan is a full brother of Fahd, Ahmed, Abdulaziz, Faisal and Hassa. Sultan completed his elementary and secondary education in Riyadh, He received a bachelor's degree in mass communications from the University of Denver and a master's degree in social and political science with distinction from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in 1999. Early experience Sultan bin Salman started his career in 1982 as a researcher in the department of international communications at the Ministry of Information in Saudi Arabia. His tenure lasted until 1984. He served as deputy director of the Saudi media committee for the Saudi athletes participating in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Later that year, the department of TV advertising was created at the Ministry of Information, and he was appointed its acting director.