Anousheh Ansari said Wednesday she remembers
wondering as a child if somebody else like her could be out there among the
stars. Next month the Iranian-born U.S. entrepreneur can get a closer look, as
she rides a Russian capsule to the International Space Station and becomes the first female space tourist.
The most exciting moment in
her voyage will likely come when she first sees Earth "as a blue, glowing globe
against the dark background of the cosmos,'' Ansari, 39, told a news conference
at the Russian cosmonaut training center outside Moscow.
Ansari is scheduled to ride to the station
aboard a Soyuz
TMA-9 capsule, along with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail
Tyurin and Spanish-born U.S. astronaut Miguel
Lopez-Alegria. She will spend 10 days at the station before returning to
Earth with its current crew, Pavel
Vinogradov and Jeff
Williams, who have been on board since April 1.
The Soyuz launch is
scheduled for Sept. 14, but will take place Sept. 18 if Florida weather permits
the U.S.
shuttle Atlantis to take off for the station Sept. 6-8, which is now
likely, said Nikolai Sevastyanov, head of state-controlled RKK Energiya, Russia's leading space company.
"There is an agreement
between the Russian and American sides that the latest date for the shuttle
launch is Sept. 8,'' after which a shuttle launch would interfere with Russia's schedule for returning the current space station crew to Earth, Sevastyanov said.
Whatever the date, the trip
promises a dream come true for Ansari, who said space was "in my heart and in
my soul.''
"Ever since I was child I
always used to gaze at the stars and wonder what's out there in the universe,
and wonder if there are others like me pondering the same questions somewhere
else out there,'' she said. "I hope this flight brings me one step closer and
helps me realize what's out there in a better way.''
Ansari, who with her husband co-founded
the Texas-based company Telecom Technologies, Inc., is following in the path of
space tourists Dennis Tito, Mark
Shuttleworth and Greg
Olsen, who also traveled to the International Space Station aboard Russian
capsules.
Ansari's contract bars her from revealing
the trip's cost, but she noted previous
space tourists have paid some $20 million.
Another of her companies, Prodea
Systems Inc., is sponsoring her trip. Prodea has been involved in space
adventures before, helping to fund a competition with a $10 million prize for
the first privately financed manned spacecraft to make a suborbital flight.
That contest, called the "X Prize,''
was won in 2004 by a vehicle called SpaceShipOne.
Dressed in civilian
clothes, Ansari said she had worn shoulder patches with the U.S. flag and a flag with Iranian colors at a recent appearance because "both countries had
something to do with the person I am today.'' Ansari moved to the United States when she was 16 years old.
"I feel very close to the
Iranian people and the culture of the country,'' she said.
She said she hoped her voyage
and her life would inspire young people worldwide, "especially women and
girls.''
Once at the station, Ansari
said, she would shoot films demonstrating laws of physics to be used at schools
and in efforts to promote interest in science and technology. She also would
conduct experiments on microbial growth in zero-gravity, and on lower back pain
experienced during space flight, she said.
Tyurin, the Russian
commander of the Soyuz crew, will try not to throw out his back when he takes a cut
at a golf ball during a space walk in a publicity stunt to promote a
Canadian golf club manufacturer - adopting a sport that is only just taking off
in his home country.
The 46-year-old cosmonaut
said he had taken a few lessons from "leading instructors on a world level - and
not just in golf technique, but relating to the cultural nuances of the
matter.''
He suggested the brief golf
outing would be like a day away from the office, saying space walks "as a rule
are linked with the need to perform hard and crucial work.''
Anybody who has taken one,
he said, would understand the desire for "a little free time to absorb the
amazing scenery and the unique feeling.''
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