First Woman Space Tourist Takes Off

Anousheh Ansari, a wealthy Iranian-American telecommunications engineer, took off on a Russian rocket traveling to the international space station last month. Press reports indicate that Ms Ansari likely paid about 20 million dollars to join the crew and become the fourth private citizen to travel to space.

Before leaving, Ms Ansari said that she considers herself as an ambassador for attracting private investment to boost space exploration and to encourage collaboration between private companies and governments.

In 2002, Ms Ansari gave ten million dollars for the naming rights to a prize awarded to the first successful manned space trip that is funded privately.

U.S. astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, one of the astronauts she joined on the mission, said that such investment not only helped the Russian space program, but that her space travel provided a dream and hope for the rest of the world.