|
|
|
Reach for
|
In the Space Tourism Spotlight
Anousheh (Raissian)
Ansari was born on September 12, 1966 in Mashhad,
Iran. In her early teens
Ansari and her parents moved to Tehran where she witnessed the Iranian
Revolution in 1979. Later in 1984, she emigrated to the United States. Ms. Ansari had
an apptitude for the technical fields at an early age so she developed this
talent when she pursued her college degree. She received her Bachelor of Science
degree in electrical engineering and computer science at George
Mason University. She went on to obtain her master's degree in
electrical engineering at George
Washington University. After graduation, Anousheh began work at MCI,
where she met her future husband, Hamid Ansari. They were married in 1991. In 1993
deregulation hit the telecommunications industry and Anousheh saw an
opportunity, so with her husband and her brother-in-law, Amir Ansari, she
co-founded Telecom Technologies, Inc (TTI). This was no small business risk
because it required a lot of capital. As a result, all three had to use their
savings and corporate retirement accounts to make this happen. The result was
well worth the effort and risk. While under her leadership, TTI earned
recognition as one of Inc. magazines 500 fastest-growing companies and
Deloitte & Touch’s Fast 500 technology companies. The
company eventually merged with Sonus
Networks,
Inc. in 2000 for $550 million dollars in stock making the
Ansari family very wealthy. Because Ms.
Ansari had a passion for space and to help drive commercialization of the
space industry, Ansari along with
her brother-in-law, Amir, she made a multi-million dollar contribution to the X
PRIZE foundation on the 43rd anniversary of Alan Shepard's sub-orbital
spaceflight (May 5, 2004). Shortly thereafter the X PRIZE was officially renamed
the Ansari X PRIZE in honor of their donation. In 2006
Anousheh’s desire to travel to space led her to
Space
Adventures, Ltd. where she was given the opportunity to train as a backup
for Daisuke Enomoto for a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station.
However,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 and her dream to go to space was about to
come true. On September 18, 2006, a few days after her 40th birthday, Anousheh became the first female Muslim and first Iranian in space as a “spaceflight participant” with the Russian space program. She spent 10 days 21 hours and 4 minutes in space via Soyuz TMA-9, Soyuz TMA-8, and the International Space Station (ISS). Ms.Ansari is the fourth overall space tourist, and the first woman to fly to the International Space Station.
Ms.Ansari
space interest went one step further when the Ansari family investment firm, Prodea Systems, announced a partnership with Space
Adventures, Ltd. and the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation (FSA) to
create a fleet of suborbital spaceflight vehicles for commercial use. The
vehicle under development is called the Space Adventures Explorer. Ansari has
received multiple honors, including the George Mason University Entrepreneurial
Excellence Award, the George Washington University Distinguished Alumni
Achievement Award, and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for
the Southwest Region. She was listed in Fortune magazine's "40 under
40" list in 2001 and honored by Working Woman magazine as the winner of the
2000 National Entrepreneurial Excellence award. Back to Top |
Send mail to webmaster@UniversalSpaceSystems.com with
questions or comments about this Web site.
|
