Reports: X Prize Sponsor May Become First Female Space Tourist

SeveralRussian media reports, including some citing a high-ranking official in thecountry's Federal Space Agency, have stated that an agreement is in hand with U.S. entrepreneur and X Prize sponsor Anousheh Ansari fora future trip to the International Space Station (ISS).

"We havesigned a pre-contract agreement with Ansari," said Alexei Krasnov, head of the Russia's manned spaceflight projects,reportedly told the Russian online publication Kommersant last week. "Sheis considered an alternate for the Japanese cosmonaut."

Japanesebusinessman DaisukeEnomoto is next in line to ride a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS as a privatepaying customer under a reported $20 million deal brokered by the Virginia, U.S.-based tourism firm SpaceAdventures. The Russian aerospace firm RSC Energia has posted several images ofEnomoto and Ansari donningSokol spacesuits and inspectinga Soyuz spacecraft, though in March Space Adventures - currently the onlyfirm that arranges private orbital trips -said Ansari had not yetsigned a formal contract with the firm.

RSC Energiaofficials said it was the first time Enomoto and Ansari were "acquainted with [an] operational Soyuz space vehicle."

"Thereare a lot of people in the queue," Space Adventures chief Eric Andersontold MSNBC.com's Alan Boyle last week. "I wouldn't want to spend mytime as a backup if I couldn't fly eventually."

Born in Iran and now a U.S.citizen and successful entrepreneur, Ansari founded the telecommunications firmTelecom Technologies with her husband Hamid and brother-in-law Amir. The familyalso providedseed money for the Ansari XPrize spaceflight competition - later renamed for the entrepreneurs - whichoffered $10 million to the first team to build and launch a privately-funded,piloted spacecraft to suborbital space and back twice in two weeks.

Morerecently, the Ansaris have launched their Texas-based Prodea firm and agreed topartnerwith Space Adventures to develop the tourism firm's Explorer spacecraft forsuborbital flights from Singaporeand the UnitedArab Emirates.

SpaceAdventures has brokered a series of ISS flights for high-paying entrepreneurs,beginning in 2001 with the launch of U.S.businessman Dennis Tito. SouthAfrican entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworthfollowed in 2002, with U.S. scientist and businessman GregoryOlsen launching in October 2005. Each of those flights, like Enomoto's,carried a reported cost of about $20 million.

Enomoto, a34-year-old entrepreneur, is currently trainingto launch toward the ISS in September with Expedition14 crewmembers Michael Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin. The expedition'sthird astronaut, flight engineer Sunita Williams, will arrive at the ISS aboarda later NASA shuttle flight.

Tariq is the award-winning Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001. He covers human spaceflight, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. He's a recipient of the 2022 Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting and the 2025 Space Pioneer Award from the National Space Society. He is an Eagle Scout and Space Camp alum with journalism degrees from the USC and NYU. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.