Iranian-American woman in space
Monday, September 18, 2006
Correction — October 22, 2006
Baikonur is incorrectly described in the article as being in Russia. Baikonur is a city in Kazakhstan leased and administered by Russia.
Anousheh Ansari, 40, an Iranian-American became the first female paying passenger astronaut today. Paying $20 million [USD] for the trip, she replaced a Japanese businessman who decided not to take the trip due to medical reasons. The Russian made Soyuz Rocket lifted off at 04:10 GMT from Baikonur, Russia.
Ansari is accompanying Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and American astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who are joining German astronaut Thomas Reiter on the International Space Station.
Ansari is a businesswoman in the telecom industry and put up the Ansari X Prize for the first privately funded trip to space won by Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites and his team.
The mission is expected to dock with the ISS on Wednesday.
Sources
- "Lift off for woman space tourist" — BBC News Online, September 18, 2006
- Anousheh Ansari. "Anousheh Ansari Space Blog" — Blog site, September 18, 2006
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