Sultan ibn Salman ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Saud

Sultan ibn Salman ibn Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, born in 1956, Saudi Arabian astronaut and a prince of the Saudi royal house.

Saud was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In 1982 he became a researcher in the Department of International Communications at the Ministry of Information in Saudi Arabia. He was appointed deputy director of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Information Committee for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and as the acting director of the Department of Advertising for the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Information in 1984. He then attended the University of Denver, earning an M.A. degree in international studies in 1986.

Foreign relations have always played an important part in the American space program. In keeping with its assertion that shuttle flight was routine and that almost anyone could fly, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) offered seats on space shuttle flights to representatives of friends and allies of the United States. Saud was the second such representative to accompany a United States shuttle mission, after Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau. In April 1985 Saud was selected by NASA and the Arab Satellite Communications Organization as a payload specialist (NASA's term for astronauts with expertise in part of the cargo) aboard the space shuttle Discovery from June 17 to June 24, 1985. The mission included the launch of the ARABSAT 1B communications satellite. Saud observed the satellite's launch and performed an experiment designed by the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The destruction of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986 (see Challenger Disaster) ended NASA's policy of allowing people without at least a year of rigorous training to fly aboard the space shuttle.

Upon returning to earth, Saud was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Saudi Air Force.