Editing Anousheh Ansari (section)

=== Iranian flag controversy ===

Ansari intended to wear the [[U.S. flag]] on her spacesuit alongside a politically neutral version of the [[Flag of Iran|Iranian flag]], i.e., the simple 3-color flag with no government-specific emblem, to honor the two countries that have contributed to her life.<ref name="Iranian flag in Space">{{cite news | first= West | last= Ender | url= http://www.persianstudents.org/archives/002273.html | title= Iranian flag in Space | publisher= Persian Students in the UK Weblog | date= 2006-08-28 | access-date= 2007-01-07 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070107153512/http://www.persianstudents.org/archives/002273.html | archive-date= 7 January 2007 | url-status= dead }}</ref> A few U.S.-based media wrongly speculated that she intended to wear the version of the Iranian flag that predated the [[Iranian Revolution|1979 Islamic revolution in Iran]].<ref name="U.S.: Iranian-born To Be First Female Civilian In Space" />

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.<ref name="Local space tourist's Iran patch spurs dispute">{{cite news |first=Shelly |last=Slater |url=http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa060914_mo_womanspace.d4fdda8.html |title=Local space tourist's Iran patch spurs dispute |publisher=[[WFAA]] (online) |date=2006-09-14 |access-date=2006-09-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017194432/http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa060914_mo_womanspace.d4fdda8.html |archive-date=2006-10-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref> She and her husband said no political message was intended, despite the increasing tensions between the United States and Iran, 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."