First female tourist goes into space

A Russian-built rocket carrying the world's first paying female space tourist and a new US-Russian crew streaked into the cloudless sky over the desolate steppes of Kazakhstan yesterday, en route to the international space station.

The Soyuz TMA-9 capsule blasted into space less than a day after the US space shuttle Atlantis pulled away from the orbiting station and began its journey back to Earth. The Soyuz entered orbit about 10 minutes after lift-off, according to Russian space officials monitoring the launch at Mission Control in Korolyov, outside Moscow.

"The launch was successful. Everything went as expected," said Russian Mission Control chief Vladimir Solovyov.

Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and US astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria were to join German astronaut Thomas Reiter on the station just over 48 hours after blasting off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Joining them was Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-born American telecommunications entrepreneur who has paid a reported US$20 million to become the fourth paying visitor to take a trip on a Russian spacecraft and visit the station.

"I'm just so happy to be here," Ansari said ebulliently as she entered the Soyuz rocket, shrouded in vapors from the super-cooled fuel tanks and painted a soft orange hue by the just risen sun.

Spanish-born Lopez-Alegria grinned and waved before climbing into the rocket and shouted an old Catalonian proverb that translated as "Health and strength!"

Roughly a kilometre away from the launch pad, Ansari's relatives gasped, their eyes and mouths widening as the gantries finally fell away from the rocket and smoke billowed below. Her mother, Fakhri Shahidi, clasped her hands in front of her chest as if in prayer.

Tears streamed down the face of Ansari's sister Atousa Raissyan when the rocket lifted into the air, while her aunt Chansi Brown began jumping up and down and shrieking with happiness, pumping her arms in the air. Ansari's husband, Hamdi, watched the lift-off stoically, then hugged Raissyan.

Solovyov said that Ansari, who could be seen on monitors at Russian Mission Control strapped into her seat in the cramped Soyuz capsule, appeared to be overwhelmed with emotion as the rocket lifted off and quickly placed the capsule in orbit.

Mission Control officials suggested over a radio link that she control her movements so that she would not be hurt during the ascent, during which the crew is subjected to the heavy pressure of gravity, Solovyov said.

"You shouldn't roll your head around too much, that can lead to unpleasant consequences," he told reporters.

Not a burden

At Russian Mission Control, NASA flight director Robert Dempsey denied speculation that Ansari, being a nonprofessional, could in any way impede the mission. "She will add to it. It will be a success," he said. Asked about the propriety of sending tourists into space, he said: "My personal feeling is I wish it could be me."

Ansari, 40, was due to return to Earth on September 29, along with cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and astronaut Jeffrey Williams, who have been on the station since April.

Speaking at a final news conference on Sunday at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Ansari also defended the role of "space flight participants" and said she viewed herself as an ambassador for attracting private investment to space flight.

Ansari gave US$10 million in 2002 for the naming rights to a prize awarded to the first successful privately financed manned trip into space.

"In order to make great leaps in space exploration... private companies and the government need to work together," she told reporters.

Ansari said she had worn a patch with the colours of the Iranian flag along with a US flag on a jumpsuit during training in Moscow to make a "personal statement." In Iran, where she lived until she was a teenager, "people will see someone born in Iran flying into space," Ansari said.

Ansari follows in the footsteps of Britain's Helen Sharman, who flew to Russia's Mir Space Station in 1991 as a tourist as part of a lottery system called Project Juno.

Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria are to join Reiter as construction at the space station picks up pace. On the agenda for the four days following the departure of the Atlantis: The station's current crew will shift a Progress supply ship to a different docking port to make way for the Soyuz; Atlantis will land back on Earth; and the Soyuz will dock at the station.

During the six-month tenure of Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria, four space walks are planned, with as many as three to be conducted in January to help set up the station's permanent cooling system. Another will take place earlier to retrieve and install experiments on the station's exterior.

Source: China Daily