Anousheh Ansari facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anousheh Ansari
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![]() Ansari in 2005
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Born |
Anousheh Raissyan
September 12, 1966 Mashhad, Iran
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Citizenship | United States |
Alma mater | George Mason University (BSc) George Washington University (MSc) |
Occupation |
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Title | CEO of XPRIZE Foundation |
Spouse(s) |
Hamid Ansari
(m. 1991) |
Relatives |
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Status | Retired |
Space career | |
Spaceflight participant | |
Time in space
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10d 21h 5m |
Missions | Soyuz TMA-9/8 |
Anousheh Ansari (Persian: انوشه انصاری; born September 12, 1966) is an amazing Iranian-American engineer and businesswoman. She is known for being the first Iranian person to travel to outer space. Anousheh also became the first self-funded woman to visit the International Space Station. She paid for her own trip!
Anousheh is a co-founder and chairwoman of a company called Prodea Systems. She also leads the XPRIZE Foundation, which encourages big breakthroughs in science and technology. Her family even sponsored the famous Ansari X Prize. This prize helped kickstart private space travel.
Contents
Anousheh's Early Life
Anousheh Raissyan was born in Mashhad, Iran, in 1966. Soon after, her family moved to Tehran. When she was six, her parents divorced. Anousheh has a younger sister named Atousa.
Dreaming of Space
As a young girl, Anousheh loved looking at the night sky. She would sleep on her grandparents' balcony and gaze at the stars. This made her very curious about space.
In Tehran, Anousheh went to a French Catholic school called Jeanne d’Arc. Half of her classes were taught in Farsi and the other half in French. She was seven years old during the Iranian Revolution in 1979. She remembers hearing loud noises and seeing people scared.
During the Iran–Iraq War, Anousheh and other children had to hide in a basement. She was the oldest child there. To help everyone feel better, she would tell them stories. This helped distract them from the sounds of bombs outside.
Moving to America
In 1984, when she was a teenager, Anousheh moved to the United States. She went to high school in Northern Virginia. Besides her native Persian, she speaks English and French. She also learned some Russian for her space journey.
Anousheh studied hard in college. She earned a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from George Mason University. Then, she got her master's degree from George Washington University.
Anousheh's Career Journey
After college, Anousheh started working at a company called MCI. There, she met her future husband, Hamid Ansari. They got married in 1991.
Starting a Business
In 1993, Anousheh convinced her husband and her brother-in-law, Amir Ansari, to start their own company. They used their savings to create Telecom Technologies Inc. This company helped telecommunication providers improve their systems. It also helped them offer new services.
Telecom Technologies was very successful. In 2001, a larger company, Sonus Networks, bought it. Anousheh became a vice president at Sonus.
Prodea Systems
In 2006, Anousheh co-founded another company called Prodea Systems. She became its chairwoman and CEO. Prodea is a technology company that helps manage services. It was started by the Ansari family.
Her Journey to Space
Anousheh doesn't like to be called a "space tourist." She prefers the term "spaceflight participant." This shows she was more than just a visitor.
Supporting Space Exploration
Anousheh is a big supporter of the X PRIZE Foundation. This foundation creates competitions to encourage new inventions. In 2004, Anousheh and her brother-in-law, Amir Ansari, gave a lot of money to the X PRIZE. Because of their generous gift, the prize was renamed the Ansari X PRIZE.
Anousheh believes in "privatization of space." This means she thinks private companies should be able to send people and equipment into space. She wants space travel to be open to more than just governments. The Ansari family also invested in a project to create suborbital space vehicles for commercial use.
Her Spaceflight Mission
Anousheh trained to be a backup for another space traveler, Daisuke Enomoto. They were preparing for a Soyuz flight to the International Space Station. In August 2006, Enomoto couldn't fly for medical reasons. The very next day, Anousheh was chosen to take his place!
Before her flight, Anousheh shared her hopes. She wanted to inspire young people, especially girls and women around the world. She wanted them to follow their dreams, even if they seemed impossible. The day before she left, she was interviewed on Iranian TV. People wished her good luck and thanked her.
Anousheh launched into space on the Soyuz TMA-9 mission. This happened on September 18, 2006, from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. She was with commander Mikhail Tyurin and flight engineer Michael Lopez-Alegria. Anousheh became the fourth person to pay for their own trip to space. She was also the first woman to do so.
Her spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on September 20, 2006. Anousheh landed safely back on Earth on September 29, 2006. She landed in Kazakhstan with U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov.
Experiments in Space
During her nine days on the International Space Station, Anousheh did several experiments. These were for the European Space Agency. She researched:
- How anemia affects the body.
- How changes in muscles can cause lower back pain.
- The effects of space radiation on astronauts.
- Different types of microbes living on the space station.
She also made history by becoming the first person to write a weblog from space!
How People Reacted to Her Flight
Her Crewmates' Thoughts
Michael López-Alegría, a NASA astronaut who flew with Anousheh, was at first unsure about private citizens visiting the space station. He felt the station was still being built. However, he later changed his mind. He realized that private trips help support the Russian space program. This is important for the U.S. space program too.
López-Alegría said that Anousheh's presence in space was "a great dream and a great hope." Mikhail Tyurin, her commander, called Anousheh "very professional." He felt like they had worked together for a long time.
Reactions in Iran
Anousheh's spaceflight was a big deal in Iran. Iranian state television showed a long live interview with her. Newspapers praised her journey. An astronomy magazine called NOJUM published an interview with her. They also organized events when the ISS flew over Iranian cities.
Interviews from Space
On September 22, 2006, Anousheh told reporters she had no regrets. She said, "I am having a wonderful time here. It's been more than I expected, and I enjoy every second of it."
Awards and Special Honors
Anousheh Ansari has received many awards for her achievements. These include:
- The George Mason University Entrepreneurial Excellence Award.
- The George Washington University Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award.
- The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
- The Horatio Alger Award.
Her company, Telecom Technologies, Inc., was recognized as one of the fastest-growing companies. Fortune Magazine also listed her in their "40 under 40" list in 2001. Working Woman honored her with the National Entrepreneurial Excellence award.
In 2009, she received the first NCWIT Symons Innovator Award. This award celebrates successful women entrepreneurs in technology. In 2012, her old university, George Mason, gave her an Honorary Doctorate of Science.
The Ansari family received an Orbit Award for helping fund the Ansari X Prize. In 2010, she was given the Ellis Island Medal of Honor for her good work. In 2015, the National Space Society gave her the Space Pioneer Award for her contributions to the space community.
Other Activities and Public Appearances
Anousheh often speaks at events. In 2010, she spoke at the Honeywell Leadership Academy. She was also featured in a 2009 documentary film called Space Tourists. This film was about wealthy people who paid to travel to the International Space Station.
In 2013, she gave a speech at Utah Valley University. She also received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from them.
In 2017, Anousheh and Firouz Naderi represented Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi at the 89th Academy Awards. They accepted the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for his movie The Salesman. Farhadi could not attend because of a travel ban. He chose Anousheh and Naderi because they are successful Iranian-Americans.
Anousheh also helps many non-profit organizations. She has served on the boards of the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Collin County Children's Advocacy Center. She is also active with the Iranian American Women Foundation and Ashoka, which supports social entrepreneurs.
Personal Life
Anousheh Ansari lives in Plano, Texas, with her husband, Hamid. They married in 1991. She is also the aunt of American actors Yara Shahidi and Sayeed Shahidi.
See also
In Spanish: Anousheh Ansari para niños
- Iranian women
- List of famous Iranian women
- List of International Space Station visitors
- Women in space