Ansari has expressed that she does not consider herself a "space tourist" and prefers the title of "
spaceflight participant." Ansari is a member of the
X PRIZE Foundation's Vision Circle, as well as its Board of Trustees. Along with her brother-in-law,
Amir Ansari, she made a multimillion-dollar contribution to the X PRIZE foundation on May 5, 2004, the 43rd anniversary of
Alan Shepard's sub-orbital spaceflight. The X PRIZE has officially renamed the
Ansari X PRIZE to honor their donation. As demonstrated by her commitment to the X PRIZE and through presentations at Space Enthusiast conferences, Ansari is a spokesperson for the "privatization of space," a process enabling commercially viable companies to government-independently send equipment and people into space for exploration and other purposes. The Ansari family also invested in 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.
Spaceflight Ansari trained as a backup for
Daisuke Enomoto for a
Soyuz flight to the International Space Station, through Space Adventures, Ltd. On August 21, 2006, Enomoto was medically disqualified from flying the
Soyuz TMA-9 mission that was due to launch the following month. The next day Ansari was elevated to the prime crew. '' Service Module of the International Space Station. Asked what she hoped to achieve on her spaceflight, Ansari said, "I hope to inspire everyone—especially young people, women, and young girls all over the world, and in Middle Eastern countries that do not provide women with the same opportunities as men—not to give up their dreams and to pursue them... It may seem impossible to them at times. But I believe they can realize their dreams if they keep it in their hearts, nurture it, and look for opportunities and make those opportunities happen." The day before her departure, she was interviewed on Iran national television for the astronomy show ''Night's Sky''. The hosts wished her success and thanked her on behalf of the Iranians. Ansari in return thanked them. Ansari lifted off on the
Soyuz TMA-9 mission with commander
Mikhail Tyurin (
RSA) and flight engineer
Michael Lopez-Alegria (
NASA) at 04:59 (
UTC) on Monday, September 18, 2006, from
Baikonur,
Kazakhstan. Ansari became the fourth (and first female)
space tourist. Her contract did not allow for disclosure of the amount paid, but previous space tourists have paid more than $20 million
USD. The spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, September 20, 2006, at 05:21 (UTC). Ansari landed safely aboard
Soyuz TMA-8 on September 29, 2006, at 01:13 UTC on the steppes of Kazakhstan (90 kilometers north of
Arkalyk) with U.S.
astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian
cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. She was given red roses from an unidentified official, and a kiss from her husband, Hamid. The crew's rescuers moved them to
Kustanai by helicopter for the welcome ceremony. During her nine-day stay on board the International Space Station, Ansari agreed to perform a series of experiments on behalf of the
European Space Agency. She conducted four experiments, including: • Researching the mechanisms behind
anemia. • How changes in muscles influence lower back pain. • Consequences of space radiation on ISS crew members and different species of microbes that have made a home for themselves on the space station. She also became the first person to publish a
weblog from space.
Iranian flag controversy Ansari intended to wear the
U.S. flag on her spacesuit alongside a politically neutral version of the
Iranian flag, i.e., the simple 3-color flag with no government-specific emblem, to honor the two countries that have contributed to her life. A few U.S.-based media wrongly speculated that she intended to wear the version of the Iranian flag that predated the
1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. She and her husband said no political message was intended, despite the increasing tensions between the United States and Iran, which had dominated world headlines in the weeks leading up to her launch. She noted that she had "plans to devote her mission to expanding a global consciousness she expected would be seeded with her first look at Earth from space."
Reactions to Ansari's flight Crewmates Michael López-Alegría, the Spanish-born NASA astronaut who flew on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft on the return flight with Ansari, expressed his doubts to reporters before the flight: "I'm not a big fan personally of having those guys go visit the space station because I think a space station is still a place that is under construction, and not quite operational. I don't think it's ideal." López-Alegría later stated that he was skeptical of private tourists a few years ago but now believes it is essential to the survival of the Russian space program, which is important to the U.S. space program: "If that's the correct solution... then not only is it good from the standpoint of supporting the Russian space program, but it's good for us as well," he said. Ansari's presence in space "is a great dream and a great hope not just for our country but for countries all around the world." The same
Associated Press story also quoted
Mikhail Tyurin describing Ansari as "very professional" and said he felt like they had worked together for a decade. López would eventually change his stance on tourism at the ISS and joined Axiom space, eventually commanding their first tourist mission.
Reactions in Iran The flight was given significant coverage by
Iranian state television, with an hour-long live interview with Ansari being broadcast on the show
Asemane Shab ("Night Sky"). Ansari was praised by newspapers such as
Hambastegi and
Jam-e-Jam Daily, which published daily columns detailing the journey. The
astronomy magazine
NOJUM also published an exclusive interview of Pouria Nazemi with Ansari before her trip, in which she discussed her vision for
commercial spaceflight.
NOJUM also organized and held gatherings when the
ISS passed over Iran's cities. Shahram Yazdanpanah made a special part about Anousheh's trip to space at the Persian "Space Science" website and covered all the trip news.
Interviews On September 22, 2006, she told reporters she had no regrets and said, "I am having a wonderful time here. It's been more than I expected, and I enjoy every second of it. The entire experience has been wonderful up here." == Awards and honors ==