Mariam H. Fardous (Arabic: مريم حامد خليل فردوس; born 15 September 1984) is a Saudi astronaut, selected as a back-up astronaut for Axiom Mission 2 by the Saudi Space Commission; her selection was officially announced on February 12, 2023.[1]
She is a Saudi epidemiologist, humanitarian, scuba diver who was raised in Mecca. She became the first Saudi woman and the first Arab woman to dive deep in the Arctic Ocean (North Arctic Circle) on 1 May 2015.[2] On 16 April 2016, Mariam became the first ever Arab woman and only the third woman to dive in the North Pole.[3] She received the Bachelor of Medicine degree after graduating from the King Abdul Aziz University in 2009. She also became the first woman from Saudi Arabia to attempt for scuba diving in 2015, at a time where women in the country were not even allowed to drive vehicles until September 2017.
Career
Medical career
She received the MBBS degree from KAU University, Jeddah in 2009 and holds master's degree with honors in epidemiology from College of Public Health and Health Informatics of KSAU-HS in 2017. She also has a diploma of business administration from the Missouri State University.
Emergence as a scuba diver
Mariam Fardous dives in the underwater of the Arctic Ocean
Fardous worked as a doctor after she graduated from the Medical College of KAU in 2009. She had already learned to dive in the Red Sea the year before as she was inspired by the stories about diving there which were told by her father when she a child.[4] She decided to be the first Arab women to dive deep in the Arctic Ocean and then to reach the North Pole[5] Her attempt interested the Saudi women community as they were generally prohibited from driving, competing in sports under restricted women's rights and Sharia law. Many of these were relaxed in 2017.[6]
On 1 May 2015, she became the first Arab woman to cross the North Arctic Circle and later on 16 April 2016 (at the age of 33), she became the first Arab woman and third overall woman to dive in the North Pole.[7] She was the first Saudi physician to dive in North Pole.[8]
Mariam Fardous poses in front of the Antonov An-74 aircraft after landing in the North Pole
Humanitarian work
On 7 November 2007, the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia recognised Fardous's three years of humanitarian work during the Hajj seasons. On 15 September 2015, she was appointed as the Ambassador for the African Non-profit organization African Impacts.
