Editing Anousheh Ansari (section)

=== Spaceflight ===

Ansari trained as a backup for [[Daisuke Enomoto]] for a [[Soyuz spacecraft|Soyuz]] flight to the International Space Station, through Space Adventures, Ltd.<ref name="Iranian Woman Blazes Trail Into Space">{{cite web |url=http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Iranian_Woman_Blazes_Trail_Into_Space_999.html |title=Iranian Woman Blazes Trail Into Space |work=[[Spacedaily.com]] |access-date=2006-08-27 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20060808063618/http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Iranian_Woman_Blazes_Trail_Into_Space_999.html |archive-date=2006-08-08 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/exp14_advancer.html|title=NASA Expedition 14 Overview|access-date=2006-09-23|archive-date=2021-05-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510091909/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition14/exp14_advancer.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[Image:Anousheh Ansari in the ISS.jpg|thumb|Ansari holds a plant grown in the ''[[Zvezda (ISS module)|Zvezda]]'' Service Module of the International Space Station.]]

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—not to 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."<ref name="Space.com interview with Anousheh Ansari">{{cite web|url=http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060915_ansari_qna.html|title=Interview with Anousheh Ansari, the First Female Space Tourist|website=[[Space.com]]|date=15 September 2006|access-date=2006-09-19| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060920022453/http://space.com/missionlaunches/060915_ansari_qna.html| archive-date= 20 September 2006 | url-status= live}}</ref> The day before her departure, she was interviewed on Iran national television for the astronomy show ''Night's Sky''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranian.com/Kasraie/2004/October/Ansari/index.html|title=Up, Up, and Away!}}</ref> The hosts wished her success and thanked her on behalf of the Iranians. Ansari in return thanked them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spacescience.ir/eng-Anousheh_Ansari.htm |title=Full Coverage of Anousheh's journey to space |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927193654/http://www.spacescience.ir/eng-Anousheh_Ansari.htm |archive-date=2007-09-27 }}</ref>

Ansari lifted off on the [[Soyuz TMA-9]] mission with commander [[Mikhail Tyurin]] ([[Russian Federal Space Agency|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 tourism|space tourist]]. Her contract did not allow for disclosure of the amount paid, but previous space tourists have paid more than $20 million [[USD]]. The spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, September 20, 2006, at 05:21 (UTC).<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5355022.stm | title=Lift-off for woman space tourist | publisher=[[BBC News Online]] | date=2006-09-18 | access-date = 2006-09-22}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5362944.stm | title=Space tourist, new crew board ISS | publisher=BBC News Online | date=2006-09-20| access-date=2006-09-22}}</ref> 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 (astronaut)|Jeffrey Williams]] and Russian [[cosmonaut]] [[Pavel Vinogradov]].<ref name="INTERVIEW: From space, a new view of an Iranian">{{cite news|title=INTERVIEW: From space, a new view of an Iranian |work=[[Yahoo]] |url=http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060916/3/2pzp7.html |access-date=2006-09-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061109130949/http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060916/3/2pzp7.html |archive-date=2006-11-09 }}</ref> She was given red roses from an unidentified official, and a kiss from her husband, Hamid.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition13/exp13_undocking.html | title=Space Station Crew Back on Earth | publisher=[[NASA]] | date=2006-09-28 | access-date = 2006-09-30| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061003103933/http://www1.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition13/exp13_undocking.html| archive-date= 3 October 2006 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5390902.stm | title=Space tourist in Earth touchdown | publisher=BBC News Online | date=2006-09-29 | access-date = 2006-09-30| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060929184831/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5390902.stm| archive-date= 29 September 2006 | url-status= live}}</ref> The crew's rescuers moved them to [[Kustanai]] by helicopter for the welcome ceremony.<ref>{{cite news |title=American female space tourist returns | publisher=[[The Detroit News]] | date=2006-09-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0700world/tm_objectid=17841909&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=space-triumph-prompts-new-line-in-underwear-name_page.html | title=Space triumph prompts new line in underwear | publisher=[[Western Mail (Wales)|icWales, The Western Mail]] | date=2006-09-29 | access-date = 2006-09-30}}</ref>

During her nine-day<ref>{{cite web|title=Expedition 14 Press Kit|url=https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/157366main_ansari.pdf|website=National Aeronautics and Space Administration|publisher=NASA|access-date=16 October 2017}}</ref> 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,<ref name="IESA experiments with spaceflight participant Ansari to ISS">{{cite web|url=http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMQRH7LURE_index_0.html|title=IESA experiments with spaceflight participant Ansari to ISS|access-date=2006-09-22| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061106003343/http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMQRH7LURE_index_0.html| archive-date= 6 November 2006 | url-status= live}}</ref> including:
* Researching the mechanisms behind [[anemia]].
* 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.