Scheduled To Fly To ISS In 2007

If everything goes to plan, one of the driving forces behind the dawn of commercial spaceflight will soon experience a trip into orbit herself.

According to Russia's Itar-Tass news agency, ANN's good friend, Anousheh Ansari (shown below, in the dawn hours just before the Ansari X Prize was won, on October 4th, 2005) -- who, along with her brother-in-law Amil provided the $10 million X-Prize awarded to the SpaceShipOne crew in 2004 -- is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule in early 2007, as the fifth so-called "space tourist."

Ansari will also be the first woman to fly into space as part of the joint-venture program between the Russian Space Agency Roskosmos and Space Adventures, in which participants pay $20 million for a ride into orbit -- which, in a way, is a deal, as Russia charges NASA $21.8 million for a Soyuz seat for one of its astronauts.

In fact, Ansari -- who, when not offering vast cash prizes for trailblazing aerospace pioneers, is the chief executive of Telecom Technologies -- may get into space even sooner than that. Forbes reports she is the understudy for Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto, should he be unable to make his planned nine-day flight to the station in the fall of 2006.

Ansari is currently undergoing training for her trip at Russia's Gagarin cosmonaut training center, after being declared fit for spaceflight in February.

ANN wishes Anousheh an amazing journey... and can't wait to hear of her adventure.

FMI: www.spaceadventures.com