Abdulmohsen Hamad Al-Bassam is a retired officer in the

Royal Saudi Air Force The Royal Saudi Air Force ( ar, ‎الْقُوَّاتُ الْجَوِّيَّةُ الْمَلَكِيَّةْ ٱلسُّعُوْدِيَّة, Al-Quwwat Al-Jawiyah Al-Malakiyah as-Su’udiyah) (RSAF) is the aviation branch of the Saudi Arabia ...

and a former astronaut. He was the back-up payload specialist for

Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Sultan bin Salman Al Saud ( ar, سلطان بن سلمان آل سعود; ''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 missi ...

STS-51-G STS-51-G was the 18th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fifth flight of Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. The seven-day mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on June 17, 1985, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif ...

Background

Abdulmohsen Hamad Al-Bassam was born on December 12, 1948, in

Unayzah Unaizah ( ar, عنيزة ) or officially The Governorate of Unaizah (also spelled Onaizah, Onizah, or Unayzah; ar, محافظة عنيزة ) is a Saudi Arabian city in the Al Qassim Province. It lies south of the province capital Buraydah and n ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. He graduated from

King Faisal Air Academy The King Faisal Air Academy () is a military officer academy and flight school in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia founded on 10 January 1968. History Founded on 10 January 1968, by Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Defense and Aviation, King Fai ...

in Riyadh (Bachelor of Science in Air Science) and was a

Fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

at the

. He later served as the Air Force Attache at the Embassy of

in London, United Kingdom. He is married and he has 2 sons and 3 daughters.

Experience

Selected in April 1985, he served as the back-up payload specialist for

Discovery (June 17–24, 1985) on which

Arabsat The Arab Satellite Communications Organization (often abbreviated as Arabsat) is a communications satellite operator in the Arab World, headquartered in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Arabsat was created to deliver satellite-based, public and ...

-1B was deployed. With the conclusion of this flight on June 24, 1985, he retired from active duty as a payload specialist. He later served as the Air Force Attache at the Embassy of

in London, United Kingdom.

External links

Spacefacts biography of Abdulmohsen Hamad Al-Bassam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassam Abdulmohsen 1948 births Living people Saudi Arabian astronauts Saudi Arabian aviators Royal Saudi Air Force personnel People from Unaizah Air attachés