By Stone Martindale Sep 21, 2006, 2:50 GMT
KOROLYOV, Russia - Iranian born and now American citizen, entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari has safely come home. The first paying female space tourist docked smoothly Wednesday at the international space station.
Members on the crew of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft U.S. astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria (C) , Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin (down) and Iranian born, US entrepeneur Anousheh Ansari (up) wave during the farewell ceremony as they enter the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft before the launch at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV
Applause erupted as the ship carrying Iranian-born American telecommunications entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and U.S. astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria hooked up with the orbiting station in a trouble-free automatic docking following a two-day journey.
"Somehow our Russian friends and partners are able to make these operations look routine, but those of us in the space business know that these matters are not routine and in fact very difficult, and so it's a testament to their skills that they can make it appear to be routine," said NASA associate administrator Rex Geveden, who was on hand to watch the docking with other U.S., Russian and European space officials.
Ansari was feted by hospitable Russian hosts with a smorgasbord of delicious Russian specialties. Smiling broadly, Ansari was clad in a bright yellow polo shirt and baseball cap. Her family and relatives of other astronauts were watching the linkup at Mission Control.
"All of us feel proud, excited and happy," said Ansari's husband, Hamid.
"I am very excited and happy for her," echoed her sister, Atousa Raissyan. "I knew she was going to do it sooner or later. She has made her dream come true."
Ansari is the fourth private astronaut to pay a reported $20 million for a space station visit. The paying tourists have become an important source of funding for Russia's space industry.
Worldwide the response regarding her daring trip has been overwhelmingly positive, with many hopeful a new, positive bond and communication can grow between the two countries residing in the heart of Ansari. Iran and the United States.
Alexei Krasnov, deputy head of Russian Federal Space Agency, said that Charles Simonyi, a Hungarian-born billionaire who helped Microsoft Corp. create Word and Excel, was to blast off for the station next spring, and a Malaysian astronaut will follow in the fall.
Krasnov hailed Ansari's courage and skills, adding that in theory she could fly to the station again in 2008 - the time when she had initially been scheduled to make the journey. Ansari was added to the current crew roster just last month, after Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto failed a medical test.
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