The American entrepreneur of Iranian origin, Anoushasha Ansari, who previously donated 10 million dollars to the XPRIZE prize, also called the Ansari-X Prize, cannot wait until this project allows private flights into space. She decided to shorten processes
Avi Blizovsky
The American entrepreneur of Iranian origin, Anoushasha Ansari, who previously donated 10 million dollars to the XPRIZE prize, also called the Ansari-X Prize, cannot wait until this project allows private flights into space. She decided to shorten processes and buy a plane ticket to the International Space Station in a Soyuz spacecraft for 20 million dollars. Ansari will be the first female space tourist, after three men have done it before her.
She will thereby replace Disuka Enomoto, a businessman from Japan who was supposed to take off in two weeks to the space station, but was disqualified due to health problems. Ansari trained at the same time as him, to be used as a replacement if necessary. Ansari, 39, is looking forward to "seeing the Earth from space against the black background of the cosmos, and enjoying every moment." Ansari said at a party at the Astronaut Training Center near Moscow.
Ansari is scheduled to fly in the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft along with cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and Spanish-born American astronaut Miguel Lopez-Alegria. She will spend ten days on the station and return to Earth together with her current crew members - Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams who have been on the station since April 1st.
The launch is scheduled for Sept. 14 but will be pushed back to Sept. 18 if the weather in Florida allows space shuttle Atlantis to launch between Sept. 6 and 8, which seems likely at the moment, said Nikolai Sebastianov, director of Energia, Russia's largest space company.
According to the agreement between Russia and the USA, the last day on which the shuttle can be launched will be September 8. The launch will then clash on schedule with that of the Russians seeking to return the crew to Earth.
"This is a dream come true for me. The space was always in my heart and soul," said Ansari. "Since I was a child, I used to watch the stars and wonder what was out there in the universe, and I also thought if there were other people like me asking the same questions somewhere." saying. "I hope that this flight will bring me one step forward and help me understand what is there in a better way.
Ansari, who together with her husband founded the Telecom Technologies company in California, continues on the path blazed by Dennis Tito, Mark Thelworth and Greg Olson, who have already flown to the space station aboard Soyuz spacecraft.
Another company she is a partner in, Prodia Systems, is funding the trip. Prodea has already been involved in space projects in the past, when it helped finance the $10 million award to the first private company to finance the construction of a suborbital spacecraft. In the competition, X-PRIZE was won by the spacecraft Space-Ship-1.
Ansari will wear two badges - one with the American flag, and the other - a badge in the colors of the Iranian flag (but without the painted symbol) "because both countries shaped my personality and who I am today" said Ansari, who moved to the US at the age of 16.
"I feel close to the people and culture of Iran," she said. She hopes her journey and life will inspire other young people around the world, especially women and girls.
At the station, she intends to shoot a film that will explain the laws of physics to be shown in schools in an effort to sustain interest in science and technology. It will also carry out experiments on the issue of bacterial culture in low gravity, as well as problems of lower back pain during space flights.
On that occasion, Tyurin, the Russian commander of the Soyuz, will try not to throw his back when he throws a golf ball during a spacewalk, with the aim of promoting a Canadian golf manufacturer - thus making a superlative that he only talked about in his homeland. The 46-year-old cosmonaut said that he took several lessons from the world's best golf instructors, not only in golf techniques but also in cultural manners.
