Iranian-American becomes the first female space tourist

[RandomGuy]

You may know the name already from the Ansari X-prize, as mentioned below.


Anousheh Ansari (Persian: انوشه انصاری) is a co-founder and Chairman of Prodea Systems, Inc. Her previous business accomplishments include serving as co-founder and CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI). She is set to become the first Iranian Azeri in space and first female space tourist in September 2006. Along with her brother-in-law Amir Ansari, she made a multi-million dollar contribution to the X-Prize foundation on May 5, 2004, the 43rd anniversary of Alan Shepard's sub-orbital spaceflight. The X-Prize was officially renamed the Ansari X Prize in honour of their donation.
Born in 1966 in Tehran, Iran (Persia), Ansari witnessed the Iranian revolution in 1979. She emigrated to the United States in 1984 at the age of 16 and received her bachelor's of science in electrical engineering and computer science at George Mason University. She received her master's degree at George Washington University.[1]

Ansari, along with her husband Hamid and brother-in-law Amir, founded TTI in 1993. The company was acquired by Sonus Networks, Inc. in 2000. Ansari was listed in Fortune magazine's "40 under 40" list in 2001 and honored by Working Woman magazine as the winner of the 2000 National Entrepreneurial Excellence award.

Most recently, Prodea has announced the formation of a partnership with Space Adventures, Ltd. and the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation (FSA) to create a fleet of suborbital spaceflight vehicles (the Space Adventures Explorer) for global commercial use.[2]

Anousheh Ansari was in training [3] as a backup for Daisuke Enomoto for a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station, through Space Adventures, Ltd., the world's leading space tourism company. On 21 August 2006, Daisuke Enomoto was medically disqualified from flying the Soyuz TMA-9 mission in September. The next day Ansari was elevated to the prime crew, and will go into space sooner than she expected, becoming the fourth, and first female, space tourist.[4]



Full text of article.

http://www.spacescience.ir/eng-Anousheh_Ansari.htm

I have met no few Iranians, most of which fled after the Shah was deposed. Decent, educated, and hardworking. Iran's loss, our gain.

[Extra Stout]

I have met no few Iranians, most of which fled after the Shah was deposed. Decent, educated, and hardworking. Iran's loss, our gain.

We got a bunch of the Lebanese Maronites too, the folks who were the reason Beirut became the "Paris of the Middle East" in the first place.

[RandomGuy]

Update:

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/TECH/space/08/25/female.space.tourist.ap/vert.ansari.ap.jpg


DALLAS, Texas (AP) -- An Iranian-born U.S. woman said Friday she will become the world's first female space tourist on September 14, joining a Russian crew on a mission to the international space station.

Anousheh Ansari will join the crew of the Soyuz TMA-9, which will launch from Kazakhstan, according to the home-technology company, Prodea Systems Inc., run by Ansari's family.

"This is a dream that I've longed for since childhood," Ansari said. "I'm fascinated by the mystery and beauty of the cosmos. I deeply believe that the long-term survival of the human race will largely depend on our achievements in space exploration."

Russia's space agency announced Ansari's trip Tuesday.

Officials said she would replace a Japanese businessman who failed a medical test.

Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and U.S. astronaut Miguel Lopez-Alegria are also scheduled to be on the trip. Ansari is expected to return to Earth 10 days later with Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams, who have been on the space station since April 1.

Ansari's company is sponsoring her trip. She is the chairwoman, and her husband is chief executive.

The company helped fund a competition, renamed the Ansari X Prize, for the first privately financed manned spacecraft to make a suborbital flight.

According to the company, Ansari immigrated to the United States from Iran as a teenager and earned degrees in computer and electrical engineering.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/25/female.space.tourist.ap/index.html