There she goes: Ansari’s off for a space visit

[KashifAsrar]

There she goes: Ansari’s off for a space visit


Baikonur, Kazakhstan: A Russian Soyuz spacecraft blasted off on Monday carrying a woman set to notch up three space records: the first female tourist, first female Muslim, and first Iranian in orbit. Anousheh Ansari, 40, an Iranian-American telecommunications entrepreneur, joined a Russian cosmonaut and US astronaut in the cramped interior of Soyuz TMA-9 for a flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
The Soviet-designed spacecraft lifted off with a roar of its rocket engine into a clear blue sky from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
“The launch was successful,” Mission Control chief Vladimir Solovyov told reporters.
At an observation post about a km from the launch site in the Kazakh steppe, Ansari’s mother said with tears: “I am happy for her. I know she is very happy and I am praying with all my heart that she is coming back.”
Unlike American Michael Lopez-Alegria and Russian Mikhail Tyurin, who are starting a six-month stint in space, Ansari will return to earth in 11 days with the outgoing U.S.-Russian crew. Ansari, a US citizen based in Dallas, who left Iran in 1984, has said she wants to be an example to her compatriots.
“I think my flight has become a sort of ray of hope for young Iranians living in Iran, helping them to look forward to something positive, because everything they’ve been hearing is all so very depressing and talks of war and talks of bloodshed,” Ansari said.
She has been told, however, to remove an Iranian flag from her spacesuit and, at the insistence of the Russian and US governments, promise that there will be no political messages during her trip. Looking relaxed and smiling at a pre-launch news conference at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sunday, Ansari said she would still pack another Iranian flag for her trip.
Ansari has not said how much her ticket cost. The Russian space programme has in the past charged about $20 million. REUTERS </SPAN>

ISS gets ready for new guests


The international space station’s three residents bade farewell to one set of houseguests Sunday and prepared for the arrival of more visitors.
The send-off of space shuttle Atlantis’ six astronauts on Sunday was the start of a week of heavy traffic at the space station, the equivalent of rush hour in space. The Soyuz was scheduled to arrive at the space station early Wednesday, and Atlantis was set to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida later that day.
“As you need more air traffic controllers when the airport gets busier, that’s the situation that we’re facing,” US astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria said from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where he blast off in the Soyuz early Monday. “I think it’s very exciting and I think it bodes well for our future.”
Early Sunday, Atlantis pilot Chris Ferguson carefully eased Atlantis through a tight corridor away from the station. About 450 feet away, he fired jets to maneuver Atlantis around the space lab so the crew could take photos of the crew’s handiwork — a newly expanded station. The space station gleamed in the reflection of the sun. AP