Female space tourist and crew return safely in Soyuz

MOSCOW: Space Adventures, the only company to offer commercial access to space, said it achieved another significant milestone with the safe return to Earth of the first female paying space tourist Anousheh Ansari. For Ansari, the experience of spending 11 days in space aboard the International Space Station “was more than I had ever imagined” she told rescue staff and mission control officials here. She returned to Earth accompanied by US astronaut Jeff Williams and Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov in a Soyuz capsule they had boarded a little over three hours ago from the ISS. Williams and Vinogradov had been aboard the space station for the past six months. The Soyuz capsule's descent had been slowed by firing rockets and opening parachutes and it landed safely at dawn in a target zone in the Kazakh steppe. The two astronauts and space tourist Ansari were quite well. A Russian official presented a bouquet of roses to Ansari while her husband Hamid welcomed her with a kiss.Ansari is also the first Muslim woman and the first Iranian-born person to be launched to space. Back home in the US, Ansari is a successful businesswoman heading Prodea Systems, a digital home technology developer. She is believed to have paid about $20m for the 11-day trip to and back from the space station. Fellow astronaut Vinogradov said she “has done a good job – she's one of the team”. Although she spoke little during the helicopter flight from Kazakhstan to a training centre here, she said she hoped to repeat the experience soon. She had enjoyed each of the 11 days “to the fullest” and thanked the crew members of Expedition 13 and 14 aboard the ISS for making her feel welcomed. She said she was also grateful to Space Adventures for having given her the opportunity. The 40yr old woman was a last minute substitute for another tourist, a Japanese businessman who failed his medical test for the trip. Ansari is also the main sponsor for the $10m X Prize to honor privately funded trips into space.