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Anousheh Ansari .
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An Iranian-American telecommunications entrepreneur took off Monday on a Russian rocket bound for the international space station, achieving her dream of becoming the the world's first paying female space tourist.
Anousheh Ansari was accompanied by a US-Russian crew on the Soyuz TMA-9 capsule, which entered orbit about 10 minutes after liftoff from the Russian cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Ansari reportedly paid US$20 million to become the fourth private astronaut to take a trip on a Russian spacecraft and visit the station.
"I'm just so happy to be here," she said ebulliently as she entered the rocket Monday, watched by about a dozen relatives.
As smoke billowed below the rocket, her relatives gasped and her motherclasped her handsin front of her chest.
Ansari's husband, Hamid Ansari, watched the liftoff stoically, but her sister's face was streaked with tears and her aunt jumped up and down, shrieking and pumping her arms in the air.
NASA flight director Robert Dempsey said Ansari's presence was a plus to the mission. As for the propriety of sending tourists into space, he said: "My personal feeling is I wish it could be me."
The Soyuz TMA-9 capsule took off less than a day after the US space shuttle Atlantis pulled away from the orbiting station and began its journey Earthward.
On board with Ansari were Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and US astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who were to join German astronaut Thomas Reiter on the station just over 48 hours after liftoff.
Ansari, 40, was due to return to Earth on Sept. 29, along with cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and astronaut Jeffrey Williams, who have been on the station since April.
Ansari said she viewed herself as an ambassador for attracting private investment to space flight.
"In order to make great leaps in space exploration ... private companies and the government need to work together," she said at a news conference at the cosmodrome in Baikonur.
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周一，一位美籍伊朗裔通信業女企業家乘坐俄制火箭飛赴國際空間站，實現了她成為世界上首位付費太空女游客的夢想。
這位名叫阿諾謝赫·安薩里的女子在兩位美俄宇航員的陪同下，搭乘"聯盟TMA 9號"飛船在位于哈薩克斯坦境內的俄羅斯發射基地升空，10分鐘后，飛船進入預定軌道。
據悉，安薩里為此次太空行花了2000萬美元，并成為史上第四位乘坐俄制飛船遨游空間站的太空游客。
周一，安薩里登上火箭時興奮的說："我太開心了。"她的很多親戚朋友前來為她送行。
當火箭底部冒出滾滾濃煙即將升空時，安薩里的親戚們都屏住了呼吸，她的媽媽雙手緊握胸前。
安薩里的丈夫哈米德·安薩里顯得比較平靜，而安薩里的妹妹已是淚流滿面，她的阿姨則不停的上下跳著，尖叫著，揮動著雙手。
美國國家航空和宇航局局長羅伯特·戴普西說，安薩為太空行增添了色彩。在談及太空游是否合適時，他說："我個人的感覺是，我真希望去太空的人是我。"
在"聯盟TMA 9號"飛船發射升空不到一天前，美國"阿特蘭蒂斯"號航天飛機已與軌道空間站脫離，開始向地球飛行。
與安薩里同行的是俄羅斯宇航員米凱爾·秋林和美國宇航員邁克爾·洛佩茲-阿里格利亞，他們將在48個多小時后和已在空間站的德國宇航員托馬斯·里特會合。
40歲的安薩里將于9月29日和宇航員帕維爾·維諾格拉多夫及杰夫里·威廉姆斯一起返回地球，這兩位宇航員從今年4月份起就進入了空間站。
安薩里說，她把自己看作是吸引太空私人投資的大使。
在拜科努爾發射基地召開的新聞發布會上，她說："要在太空探索方面取得重大進步，私營企業和政府需要齊心協力。"
(英語點津姍姍編輯)
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