Anousheh Ansari
Encyclopedia
Anousheh Ansari is an engineer
and the Iranian-American
co-founder and chairman of Prodea Systems. Her previous business accomplishments include serving as co-founder and CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI). The Ansari family is also the title sponsor of the Ansari X Prize
. On September 18, 2006, a few days after her 40th birthday, she became the first Iranian in space. Ansari was the fourth overall self-funded space tourist
, and the first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station
. Her memoir, My Dream of Stars, co-written with Homer Hickam
, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2010.
, Iran
. She and her parents moved to Tehran shortly afterward. Anousheh witnessed the Iranian Revolution
in 1979. She immigrated to the United States in 1984 as a teenager. Apart from her native Persian
, she is fluent in English
and French
, and acquired a working knowledge of Russian
for her spaceflight experience.
She received her Bachelor of Science
degree in electrical engineering and computer science at George Mason University
in Fairfax, Virginia and her master's degree at George Washington University
in Washington D.C.
After graduation, Anousheh began work at MCI
, where she met her future husband, Hamid Ansari. They married in 1991.
The company was a supplier of softswitch technology that enabled telecom
"service providers to enhance system performance, lower operating costs and furnish new revenue opportunities." The company, headquartered in Richardson, Texas, offered a line of products that allowed for integration between existing legacy telecom networks and application-centric, next-generation networks via software switch technology
.
telecom technologies was acquired by Sonus Networks, Inc. in 2001 in a stock-for-stock transaction for 10.8 million shares of Sonus stock. Anousheh Ansari became "a vice president of Sonus and general manager of Sonus' new INtelligentIP division."
, she remained in that position.
In 2006, she co-founded Prodea Systems, and is the current chairman and CEO.
".
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 multi-million dollar contribution to the X PRIZE foundation on May 5, 2004, the 43rd anniversary of Alan Shepard
's sub-orbital spaceflight. The X PRIZE was officially renamed the Ansari X PRIZE in honor of their donation.
The Ansari family investment firm, also named Prodea, has 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 (the Space Adventures Explorer) for global commercial use.
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.
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—to not 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 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 in excess of $20 million USD. The space craft 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 surprise kiss from her husband, Hamid. Rescuers moved them to Kustanai for welcome ceremony with helicopters.
During her eight 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:
She also became the first person to publish a weblog from space.
, 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 was intending to wear the version of the Iranian flag that predated the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.
At the insistence of the NASA
and Russian officials, she did not wear the Iranian flag officially, but wore the Iranian flag colors instead and kept the Iranian flag on her official flight patch. She and her husband said no political message was intended, despite the increasing tensions with United States and Iran relations, 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".
Lopez-Alegria 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.
Reactions to the flight in Ansari's native Iran were generally mixed. It was given significant coverage by state television
. IRIB aired a live 1 hour interview with Anousheh in Aseman-e-Shab (Night Sky) live show. Anousheh 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 Anousheh 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 Persian "Space Science" website and covered all the news of trip.
Women in Technology PodCast
. While under her leadership, Telecom Technologies, Inc. earned recognition as one of Inc. magazine's 500 fastest-growing companies and one of Deloitte & Touche’s Fast 500 technology companies. 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.
In 2009 she was received the first Symons Innovator Award given annually by NCWIT to honor successful women entrepreneurs in technology.
The Ansari family was recently honored with an Orbit Award
by the National Space Society
and Space Tourism Society
for underwriting the Ansari X PRIZE.
Anousheh Ansari participated as a speaker at the 2010 Honeywell Leadership Academy at Space Camp
in Huntsville Alabama with Homer Hickam
.
In 2010, she was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor
in recognition of her humanitarian efforts.
In 2009, Ansari was featured in the documentary film "Space Tourists" by independent Swiss filmmaker Christian Frei
about billionaires who paid to ride to the International Space Station
aboard Russian spacecraft. When the DVD of the film was released in 2011, an animated GIF of her from the Youtube trailer was made and distributed on the limited release social network Google +. The clip, which showed Ansari holding a water dispenser in front of her face and shooting water straight into her open mouth, was instantly popular for reasons unknown.
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and the Iranian-American
Iranian-American
Iranian-Americans are Americans of Iranian ancestry or people possessing Iranian and American dual citizenship.Iranian-Americans are amongst the most highly educated groups in the United States...
co-founder and chairman of Prodea Systems. Her previous business accomplishments include serving as co-founder and CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI). The Ansari family is also the title sponsor of the Ansari X Prize
Ansari X Prize
The Ansari X Prize was a space competition in which the X Prize Foundation offered a US$10,000,000 prize for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks...
. On September 18, 2006, a few days after her 40th birthday, she became the first Iranian in space. Ansari was the fourth overall self-funded space tourist
Space tourism
Space Tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, hoping to create a space tourism industry...
, and the first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
. Her memoir, My Dream of Stars, co-written with Homer Hickam
Homer Hickam
Homer Hadley Hickam, Jr. is an American author, Vietnam veteran, and a former NASA engineer. His autobiographical novel Rocket Boys: A Memoir, was a #1 New York Times Best Seller, is studied in many American and international school systems, and was the basis for the popular film October Sky...
, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2010.
Early life
Anousheh Ansari was born in MashhadMashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. She and her parents moved to Tehran shortly afterward. Anousheh witnessed the Iranian Revolution
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...
in 1979. She immigrated to the United States in 1984 as a teenager. Apart from her native Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, she is fluent in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and acquired a working knowledge of Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
for her spaceflight experience.
She received her Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in electrical engineering and computer science at George Mason University
George Mason University
George Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...
in Fairfax, Virginia and her master's degree at George Washington University
George Washington University
The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...
in Washington D.C.
After graduation, Anousheh began work at MCI
MCI Inc.
MCI, Inc. is an American telecommunications subsidiary of Verizon Communications that is headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia...
, where she met her future husband, Hamid Ansari. They married in 1991.
Business career
In 1993, she persuaded her husband, Hamid Ansari, and her brother-in-law, Amir Ansari, to co-found telecom technologies, inc., using their savings and corporate retirement accounts, as a wave of deregulation hit the telecommunications industry.The company was a supplier of softswitch technology that enabled telecom
Telecom
Telecom refers to:* An abbreviation of telecommunication.* Short for telecommunications company, in general.* A short name for any telecommunications company with "Telecom" specifically in the name, where context allows media or people to commonly exclude the rest of its name without confusion,...
"service providers to enhance system performance, lower operating costs and furnish new revenue opportunities." The company, headquartered in Richardson, Texas, offered a line of products that allowed for integration between existing legacy telecom networks and application-centric, next-generation networks via software switch technology
Call control
In telephony, call control refers to the software within a telephone switch that supplies its central function. Call control decodes addressing information and routes telephone calls from one end point to another. It also creates the features that can be used to adapt standard switch operation to...
.
telecom technologies was acquired by Sonus Networks, Inc. in 2001 in a stock-for-stock transaction for 10.8 million shares of Sonus stock. Anousheh Ansari became "a vice president of Sonus and general manager of Sonus' new INtelligentIP division."
, she remained in that position.
In 2006, she co-founded Prodea Systems, and is the current chairman and CEO.
Space
Ansari has expressed that she does not consider herself a "space tourist", and prefers the title of "spaceflight participantSpaceflight participant
Spaceflight participant is the term used by National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Russian Federal Space Agency for people who travel aboard space missions coordinated by those agencies who are not part of the crew...
".
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
Amir Ansari
Amir Ansari is co-founder of venture capital firm Prodea Systems, Inc. Along with his sister-in-law Anousheh Ansari, he made a multi-million dollar contribution to the X PRIZE foundation on May 5, 2004, the 43rd anniversary of Alan Shepard's sub-orbital spaceflight...
, she made a multi-million dollar contribution to the X PRIZE foundation on May 5, 2004, the 43rd anniversary of Alan Shepard
Alan Shepard
Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit...
's sub-orbital spaceflight. The X PRIZE was officially renamed the Ansari X PRIZE in honor of their donation.
The Ansari family investment firm, also named Prodea, has announced a partnership with Space Adventures, Ltd.
Space Adventures
Space Adventures, Ltd. is a Virginia, USA-based space tourism company founded in 1998 by Eric C. Anderson. , offerings include zero-gravity atmospheric flights, orbital spaceflights , and other spaceflight-related experiences including cosmonaut training, spacewalk training, and launch tours...
and the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation
Russian Federal Space Agency
The Russian Federal Space Agency , commonly called Roscosmos and abbreviated as FKA and RKA , is the government agency responsible for the Russian space science program and general aerospace research. It was previously the Russian Aviation and Space Agency .Headquarters of Roscosmos are located...
(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 EnomotoDaisuke Enomoto
is a Japanese businessman and former livedoor executive who hoped to become the fourth space tourist. He had trained at Star City, Moscow in Russia to fly with two members of Expedition 14 on board Soyuz TMA-9, which was launched on September 18, 2006....
for a Soyuz
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
flight to the International Space Station, through Space Adventures, Ltd. On August 21, 2006, Enomoto was medically disqualified from flying the Soyuz TMA-9
Soyuz TMA-9
-Crew notes:Daisuke Enomoto Was originally scheduled to be the spaceflight participant, but on on 21 August 2006, he was determined to be unfit for the flight due to medical reasons, and replaced by Anousheh Ansari, his back-up crew member.-Docking with ISS:...
mission that was due to launch the following month. The next day Ansari was elevated to the prime crew.
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—to not 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 Iranians. Ansari in return, thanked them.
Ansari lifted off on the Soyuz TMA-9 mission with commander Mikhail Tyurin
Mikhail Tyurin
Mikhail Vladislavovich Tyurin is a Russian cosmonaut.-Personal data:Michael Tyurin lives in Korolev, a small city outside of Moscow. He was born March 2, 1960, in Kolomna, USSR where his parents still reside. He is married to Tatiana Anatoleyvna Tyurina. They have a daughter, Alexandra, born in...
(RSA
Russian Federal Space Agency
The Russian Federal Space Agency , commonly called Roscosmos and abbreviated as FKA and RKA , is the government agency responsible for the Russian space science program and general aerospace research. It was previously the Russian Aviation and Space Agency .Headquarters of Roscosmos are located...
) and flight engineer Michael Lopez-Alegria
Michael Lopez-Alegria
Michael Eladio "LA" López-Alegría b. May 30, 1958, is a Spanish-American astronaut; a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions and one International Space Station mission...
(NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
) at 04:59 (UTC) on Monday September 18, 2006 from Baikonur
Baikonur
Baikonur , formerly known as Leninsk, is a city in Kyzylorda Province of Kazakhstan, rented and administered by the Russian Federation. It was constructed to service the Baikonur Cosmodrome and was officially renamed Baikonur by Russian president Boris Yeltsin on December 20, 1995.The shape of the...
, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
. Ansari became the fourth (and first female) space tourist
Space tourism
Space Tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, hoping to create a space tourism industry...
. Her contract did not allow for disclosure of the amount paid, but previous space tourists have paid in excess of $20 million USD. The space craft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday September 20, 2006, at 05:21 (UTC). Ansari landed safely aboard Soyuz TMA-8
Soyuz TMA-8
-Back-up crew:-Docking with ISS:*Docked to ISS: April 1, 2006, 04:19 UTC *Undocked from ISS: September 28, 2006, 21:53 UTC -Mission highlights:29th manned flight to ISS...
on September 29, 2006 at 01:13 UTC on the steppes of Kazakhstan (90 kilometers north of Arkalyk
Arkalyk
Arkalyk is a city in Kostanay Province, northern Kazakhstan. Earlier, it was the centre of Torgay province, which was abolished in 1997. Today, it is the administrative centre of Torgay region, Kostanay province....
) with U.S. astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. She was given red roses from an unidentified official, and a surprise kiss from her husband, Hamid. Rescuers moved them to Kustanai for welcome ceremony with helicopters.
During her eight day stay on board the International Space Station, Ansari agreed to perform a series of experiments on behalf of the European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...
. She conducted four experiments, including:
- Researching the mechanisms behind anemiaAnemiaAnemia is a decrease in number of red blood cells or less than the normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood. However, it can include decreased oxygen-binding ability of each hemoglobin molecule due to deformity or lack in numerical development as in some other types of hemoglobin...
. - 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 with a politically-neutral version of the Iranian flagFlag of Iran
The current flag of Iran was adopted on 29 July 1980, and is a reflection of the changes brought about by the Iranian Revolution. Its field is a tricolour comprising equal horizontal bands of green, white, and red...
, 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 was intending to wear the version of the Iranian flag that predated the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.
At the insistence of the NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
and Russian officials, she did not wear the Iranian flag officially, but wore the Iranian flag colors instead and kept the Iranian flag on her official flight patch. She and her husband said no political message was intended, despite the increasing tensions with United States and Iran relations, 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".
Crewmates
Michael Lopez-Alegria, 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 the space station is still a place that is under construction, and not quite operational. I don't think it's ideal."Lopez-Alegria 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.
Reactions in Iran
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcaster, or IRIB, , formerly called the National Iranian Radio and Television until the Islamic revolution of 1979, is a giant Iranian corporation in control of radio and television which is among the largest media organizations in Asia and Pacific region, and a regular...
. IRIB aired a live 1 hour interview with Anousheh in Aseman-e-Shab (Night Sky) live show. Anousheh was praised by newspapers such as Hambastegi and Jam-e-Jam Daily, which published daily columns detailing the journey. The astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
magazine NOJUM also published an exclusive interview of Pouria Nazemi with Anousheh before her trip, in which she discussed her vision for commercial spaceflight
Private spaceflight
Private spaceflight is flight above Earth altitude conducted by and paid for by an entity other than a government. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pioneered space technology augmented by collaboration with affiliated design...
. NOJUM also organized and held gatherings when the ISS
ISS
The ISS is the International Space Station.ISS may also refer to:* I See Stars, an American electronic rock band* ISS A/S, a Danish service company* Idea Star Singer, a Malayalam music reality show by Asianet TV...
passed over Iran's cities. Shahram Yazdanpanah, made a special part about Anousheh's trip to space at Persian "Space Science" website and covered all the news of trip.
Interviews
On September 22, 2006, she told reporters that she has no regrets and said "I am having a wonderful time here. It's been more than what I expected, and I am enjoying every single second of it. The entire experience has been wonderful up here."Women in Technology PodCast
Honors and awards
Ansari has received multiple honors, including the George Mason University Entrepreneurial Excellence Award, the George Washington University Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Southwest Region, and the Horatio Alger AwardHoratio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans
The Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, that was founded in 1947 to honor the achievements of outstanding Americans who have succeeded in spite of adversity and to emphasize the importance of higher education...
. While under her leadership, Telecom Technologies, Inc. earned recognition as one of Inc. magazine's 500 fastest-growing companies and one of Deloitte & Touche’s Fast 500 technology companies. She was listed in Fortune Magazine's "40 under 40"
40 under 40 (Fortune Magazine)
Fortune Magazine's 40 under 40 List details the young stars in business across the globe.Mark Zuckerberg topped the 2011 list. Facebook now has over 800 million users.-External links:***...
list in 2001 and honored by Working Woman magazine as the winner of the 2000 National Entrepreneurial Excellence award.
In 2009 she was received the first Symons Innovator Award given annually by NCWIT to honor successful women entrepreneurs in technology.
The Ansari family was recently honored with an Orbit Award
Orbit Award
The Orbit Awards were given by the National Space Society and the Space Tourism Society to pioneers in the private space travel industry, and presented at the Annual International Space Development Conference...
by the National Space Society
National Space Society
The National Space Society is an international nonprofit 501, educational, and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy...
and Space Tourism Society
Space Tourism Society
The Space Tourism Society was founded in 1996. It is the first organization specifically focused on the space tourism industry.Their stated goals, quoted from their :"To conduct the research,build public desire,...
for underwriting the Ansari X PRIZE.
Anousheh Ansari participated as a speaker at the 2010 Honeywell Leadership Academy at Space Camp
Space Camp
Space Camp may refer to:*SpaceCamp, 1986 movie starring Joaquin Phoenix...
in Huntsville Alabama with Homer Hickam
Homer Hickam
Homer Hadley Hickam, Jr. is an American author, Vietnam veteran, and a former NASA engineer. His autobiographical novel Rocket Boys: A Memoir, was a #1 New York Times Best Seller, is studied in many American and international school systems, and was the basis for the popular film October Sky...
.
In 2010, she was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor
Ellis Island Medal of Honor
The Ellis Island Medal of Honor was founded by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations and intended to pay homage to the immigrant experience. The medals honor the contribution made to America by immigrants and the legacy they left behind in the successes of their children and grand-children...
in recognition of her humanitarian efforts.
In 2009, Ansari was featured in the documentary film "Space Tourists" by independent Swiss filmmaker Christian Frei
Christian Frei
Christian Frei is a Swiss filmmaker. He is mostly known for his two films War Photographer and The Giant Buddhas . Both deal with topics and themes more or less linked to war and intolerance....
about billionaires who paid to ride to the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
aboard Russian spacecraft. When the DVD of the film was released in 2011, an animated GIF of her from the Youtube trailer was made and distributed on the limited release social network Google +. The clip, which showed Ansari holding a water dispenser in front of her face and shooting water straight into her open mouth, was instantly popular for reasons unknown.
See also
- Iranian womenIranian womenIranian women in this article refers to women of, or from, traditional Persian or modern Iranian culture.-Depictions and appearance:...
- List of famous Persian women
- List of International Space Station visitors
External links
- Personal website
- Anousheh Ansari Space Blog
- Space Explorer, Anousheh's space album on Flickr
- Spacefacts biography of Anousheh Ansari
- Space Tourists, a documentary film from Christian Frei with Anousheh Ansari
- Entrepreneurial Heroes - podcast interview with NCWIT
- Anousheh Ansari in SpaceScience.ir (in persian)
- Interview with Anousheh Ansari
- A 'passion' for space travel BBC/Click Video Interview with Anousheh Ansari