Editing Anousheh Ansari (section)

=== Reactions to Ansari's flight ===

==== Crewmates ====
[[Michael López-Alegría]], 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 a space station is still a place that is under construction, and not quite operational. I don't think it's ideal."<ref name="First Female Space Tourist, Next ISS Crew Set to Launch">{{cite news |first= Ker | last = Than | url=http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060916_exp14_prelaunch.html| title=First Female Space Tourist, Next ISS Crew Set to Launch | publisher=[[space.com]] | date =2006-09-16 | access-date =2006-09-18}}</ref>

López-Alegría 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."<ref name="First female space tourist blasts off">{{cite news | first= Mike| last= Eckel |title= First female space tourist blasts off| publisher=[[Yahoo News]] | date= 2006-09-18}}</ref>

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. López would eventually change his stance on tourism at the ISS and joined Axiom space, eventually commanding their first tourist mission.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.axiomspace.com/ax1 | title=Meet Ax-1, the Beginning of a New Era }}</ref>

==== Reactions in Iran ====
[[Image:Soyuz TMA-9 crew w ansari.jpg|thumb|The Crew of Soyuz TMA-9: Astronaut Michael E. Lopez-Alegria (left), Anousheh Ansari (middle) and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan on Sept. 5, 2006]]
The flight was given significant coverage by [[Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting|Iranian state television]], with an hour-long live interview with Ansari being broadcast on the show ''Asemane Shab'' ("Night Sky"). Ansari 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 Ansari before her trip, in which she discussed her vision for [[Private spaceflight|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 the Persian "Space Science" website and covered all the trip news.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spacescience.ir/Anousheh_Ansari.htm |title=Anousheh Ansari – انوشه انصاري |access-date=2008-05-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080602002440/http://www.spacescience.ir/anousheh_ansari.htm |archive-date=2008-06-02 }}</ref>