First Iranian woman in space

[mahsaak]

thanks sia, so amazing post

[Rasputin]

http://psa.stanford.edu
Contact Info: psa-admin(at)lists(dot)stanford(dot)edu

Event is free and open to public.
Doors open at 6:30 PM and seating is on a first come - first serve basis.



This event is co-sponsored by:
- ASSU Speakers Bureau, Stanford University
- Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies, Stanford University
- Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Stanford University
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
- Bechtel International Center, Stanford University
- Mechanical Engineering Women's Group, Stanford University

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

You've wished upon a star, tried to find the man in the moon, and secretly still want to be an astronaut (remember when you were 8 years old?). Now, for the first time, the heavens are truly within reach, when you charter Virgin Galactic for the journey into space. It may sound like science fiction, but it's very real indeed.

The Burton Rutan-designed SpaceShipOne has already completed three space missions and won the $10 million Ansari X Prize for the first private space flight. Now, funded by Virgin, Rutan is building a larger, commercial version of SpaceShipOne exclusively for Virgin Galactic. Like Sir Richard Branson's previous adventures, this one is being planned, designed, tested, and executed down to the last detail to ensure its safety and success. Construction is also progressing on a $200 million spaceport in New Mexico, and Branson and Rutan are on schedule to begin regular private space travel in 2009.

Your six-passenger charter begins with three days of medical assessments and training for the astronauts-to-be. When your systems are go, your group will board SpaceShipTwo and fly off attached to a launching aircraft. About 10 miles up, the countdown will occur in mid-air. SpaceShipTwo will detach, fire its custom-designed hybrid rocket, and propel you into the majesty of space. Most astronauts have trouble describing the ethereal, awe-inspiring view of Earth from the silence of space; your six travelers won't have to put it into words. About 63 miles above sea level, you will also experience weightlessness firsthand.

After gliding back to Earth with a runway landing, it's off to Sir Richard's private island retreat in the British Virgin Islands for each astronaut and a guest. Your party of 12 will enjoy luxury accommodations on Necker Island and four nights of all-inclusive festivities. Sir Richard will host an exclusive celebration and personally present each member of your flight with a set of Virgin Galactic astronaut wings. With events on land, in the air, and in space, this is the ultimate getaway.

For more information on a gift package that is genuinely out of this world, please call 1.877.9NM.GIFT.

Neiman Marcus is acting as the advertiser for this trip. Expected departure in 2009. Subject to Virgin Galactic standard Deposit Terms and Conditions, Conditions of Carriage, and Virgin Limited Edition standard Terms and Conditions for stay on Necker Island.

Item
Six-Person Space Trip Charter
Price $1,764,000.00

[Rasputin]

It's been about two and a half months ever since Mrs Ansari traveled to space and Iranians are still discussing whether she did right or wrong. I don't want to be the next person judging Mrs Ansari's action. I'm not writing for this purpose. I wish to write about this reaction of the Iranian community, which is peculiar, and which is interesting for me as a subject for analysing the social behaviour of my compatriots, me among them.

I am sure most Iranians know about the biblical story of Jesus telling the crowd, who wanted to execute Mary Magdalene for adultery, "anyone without sin to throw the first stone." I am not comparing the "sin" of Mary Magdalene to the supposed "money spoil" of Mrs Ansari. I personally think that whatever the morality of Mrs Ansari's actions she did Iran and Iranians a huge good. It was one of the very very few times when Iran's name was mentioned in the world media with a smile rather than coming before or after words such as "nuclear", "terrorism", "threat", weapons", and so on.

Mrs Ansari did Iranians a great service with her travelling to space (which I consider courageous too, because it is risky) simply because her action was a welcome rare positive PR for Iran. There are so many Iranians who have contributed to the world's civilisation and bla bla bla, but nobody knows and nobody cares. We are not living in fantasy world. In real world we must be realistic. Beside all this, what does the average poor "hard-working" Iranian do with his spare money? Let the one without sin to throw the first stone! Do we know about Mrs Ansari's other deeds? No, we don't know. They may be bad, and they may be good. Why do we care so much? Shouldn't we care more about our own deeds? Probably yes.

It's just a Middle-Eastern habit to talk about others, judge others, blame others, complain about others, explain about others, and also when it comes to do something, expect it from others. What do we get for this? Loads of abusers, dictators, murderers, and the list goes on. We get what we deserve of course. And unfortunately this culture is so well penetrated and preserved with special Middle-Eastern stubbornness that so many Iranians have lived in the US for more than a generation and still haven't learnt that talk doesn't take you, and us, anywhere. I mean talking about others, blaming others, explaining to others how glorious our country and our culture is (more glorious than Kazakhstan, and we definitely deserve a double Borat for that) and how bad others have been to us.

It is saddening to see Iranians with their arrogance and stupid Aryan-Persian pride even look at other Iranians, no matter how great they seem, as some inferior beings who deserve nothing by suspicion and judgment. And when they are compared to Arabs they say "no, don't insult us, we are Persians!" So what? "We have somebody like Ansari, you know! Arabs don't." They have their own Ansaris, maybe compared to their numbers their Ansaris are fewer. But we as Iranians aren't that far from Arabs in our behaviour, and we have many more Khomeinis, Pahlavis and Ahmadinejads to talk about, while Arabs have their own Saddams, Al Sauds, Al Assads and so forth. We and Arabs must love each other more because we are so similar. Or if we think we are different, or if we want to be different, then we must first start with looking at our own sins, and definitely be grateful for those who make some exceptions and do other Iranians favours.

[Rasputin]

07:00 PM » Anousheh Ansari at UCLA
Iranian Student Group at UCLA


Presents


Anousheh Ansari

CEO of Prodea Systems and Space Ambassador


Thursday March 1st, 2007

7:00 PM


In Tom Bradley International Hall at the

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)


For more information, contact:

Combiz@ucla.edu

(909) 709-3228

https://www.uclaisg.com/ansari

Directions:

From the 405 Freeway, take Wilshire Boulevard eastbound to Gayley Avenue and turn left. Take Gayley to Strathmore Avenue and enter the UCLA campus by turning right on Strathmore. There will be a parking garage (lot 8 on your right and Tom Bradley Center will be to your left. Signs will direct you to the parking garage and then from the parking garage to Tom Bradley International Hall.

[Rasputin]

How private investment has launched a new space race

American space exploration had a rough time of it on Thursday. NASA's already bruised reputation took a one-two punch with revelations that on at least two occasions astronauts were allowed to fly even though they were intoxicated and that a computer due to be delivered to the International Space Station in August had been sabotaged. The news might have bolstered the case for the increasingly robust efforts at privately funded space ventures, except Thursday also brought news of a deadly explosion at a Mojave Desert airport where a propellant system for a space-tourism vehicle was being tested. Three workers were killed and three others injured in the accident at a testing facility owned by Scaled Composites, the company that built SpaceShipOne, the first privately owned, manned craft to reach space.

But despite these setbacks -- as with past misfortune in the space industry -- the push to venture far from Earth will no doubt continue. The only question is just when commercial enterprises will begin to pose a serious challenge to government-funded space exploration. The answer: soon. That, at least, is the message of "Rocketeers," Michael Belfiore's enlightening survey of the entrepreneurs bent on conquering space.

In the old days of science fiction, the recipe for conquering space was simple: take some genius rocket scientists, maybe add a rich guy who shared the dream and provided funds, stir in a lot of backyard-style tinkering, and soon you'd have a spacecraft that did the job. From E.E. Smith's "The Skylark of Space" (1928 to Robert Heinlein's "Rocket Ship Galileo" (1947), the assumption was that spaceflight would take off pretty much the way aviation had taken off, thanks to the skilled hands of dedicated amateurs who would blaze a trail soon to be followed by big business and big government.

It didn't work out that way, of course. The earliest days of rocketry, when Robert Goddard and Wernher von Braun built rockets in garages in the 1920s and 1930s, did look like the early days of aviation. But by 1957, when the first Sputnik satellite was launched, it was clear that space exploration was going to be mostly a job for federal agencies and tax dollars.

The big-government approach did get us to the moon -- the process might have been expensive and complicated, but it had also been fast, and it had worked. Unfortunately, the big-government approach stopped working. The Apollo program was ended early, the promised follow-up missions didn't appear, and talk of going to Mars quickly died down. We spent most of a decade waiting for the Space Shuttle, and when it arrived it was a disappointment: an orbital trucking service, and not a cheap or reliable one either. The International Space Station was likewise slow, overpriced and in some ways even creakier than the Mir and Skylab stations that had preceded it.

As NASA has lost its glow in recent years, space enthusiasts have begun to wonder whether early science-fiction writers might have been right after all. And indeed, private-sector space initiatives are heating up again. So far, as Michael Belfiore shows in "Rocketeers," the results look promising.

Mr. Belfiore opens with a discussion of Peter Diamandis, the communications entrepreneur who, in 1996, announced an open competition for what he called the X Prize. (It was renamed the Ansari X Prize after two venture capitalists, Amir and Anousheh Ansari, put up $10 million for the award.) The challenge to competitors: Develop a spacecraft able to carry three people to an altitude of roughly 62 miles -- generally regarded as the point where airspace ends and outer space begins -- and safely return them to Earth, then repeat the trip within two weeks.

The X Prize contest was reminiscent of aviation's early days, when privately funded prizes inspired design competitions and trial-and-error efforts with comparatively little governmental help. Charles Lindbergh didn't fly the Atlantic with the assistance of a federal grant; he was chasing the Orteig Prize. And Lindbergh was one of many aviators competing for the $25,000 award -- it touched off a frenzy of creative thinking and problem-solving.

The Ansari X Prize was won in 2004 by aerospace engineer Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne. The excitement over the contest prompted others to look afresh at the possibilities of space transportation. Mr. Belfiore offers an inside look at many of these "NewSpace" entrepreneurs, including John Carmack, the creator of the Doom video game. In 2001, he launched the Armadillo Aerospace project, currently competing for the million-dollar NASA Lunar Lander Prize. Elon Musk, the founder of PayPal, has started SpaceX, a startup that has launched everything from Naval research payloads to the ashes of "Star Trek" actor James Doohan.

Not every NewSpace venture has its roots in technology and engineering. Budget Suites owner Robert Bigelow has gotten into the game with Bigelow Aerospace. His goal: orbital hotels. The company has already launched two spacecraft. And outdoor advertising mogul George French is behind Rocketplane, which bills itself as "a commercial space transportation company focused on providing safe, reliable and low-cost access to space."

If private-sector space exploration efforts bring to mind aviation's early days, they also evoke the personal-computer world circa 1975: a lot of creative energy and a critical mass of engineers, early-adopter customers, bold financiers, and start-up suppliers and subcontractors. Like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in the pioneering days of the PC, the rocketry folks display a sense of mission as they pursue transformative breakthroughs rather than short-term gains.

On Memorial Day weekend, in Dallas, I attended the National Space Society's International Space Development Conference for the first time in more than a decade, and the change was striking. In the early 1990s, the gathering had the atmosphere of a Star Trek convention; now it's something different, with Brioni-suited venture capitalists and prosperous, big-firm lawyers filling auditorium seats and schmoozing with tech-geeks between panel discussions. Shortly afterward, it was announced that Northrop Grumman was buying Burt Rutan's company outright. The amount paid was undisclosed, but Old Space clearly wants a piece of NewSpace and is willing to pay serious money to get it.

The combination of lavish investment, entrepreneurial zeal and technological inventiveness may well give a big lift to nongovernmental efforts at space exploration. Mr. Belfiore does a terrific job of capturing the dream-chasing that is already under way. If we ever see cities on the moon or Mars -- the kind of thing science fiction once promised so enticingly -- I'm betting that the lion's share of credit will go not to NASA but to 21st-century rocketeers.

[Rasputin]

وقتی حدود شش ماه پیش، در ۱۷ سپتامبر ۲۰۰۶، انوشه انصاری، نخستین زن توریست فضانورد ایرانی- آمریکایی به آسمان رفت و پس از گردشی یک هفته*ای در فضا به زمین بازگشت، بحث*ها و خبرهای فراوانی حول و حوش این واقعه شکل گرفت. گروهی انتقادهای زیادی به انوشه انصاری کردند که چرا بیست میلیون دلار برای یک سفر تفریحی یک هفته*ای به فضا باید پرداخت بشود درحالی که در گوشه و کنار جهان، چه دردها و مشکلاتی که نمی*شد با این مقدار پول آرام و حل بشود. گروه کثیر دیگری هم ازمنظری متفاوت به این واقعه نگاه کردند و اینکه برای تحقق یک رویا می*توان هر بهایی را پرداخت. انوشه انصاری اما در پاسخ به این پرسش که چقدر حاضر هستید برای تحقق رویاهای خودتان بپردازید در سایت اینترنتی خود نوشته: "من جوابی برای این سوال ندارم، اما فکر می*کنم پاسخ به این پرسش برای هرکسی متفاوت باشد. خود من همیشه آماده بودم و هنوز هم هستم که زندگی خود را برای تحقق رویاهایم فدا کنم."
از آن جنجال*های خبری شش ماه گذشته و با آنکه بسیاری تصور می*کردند به زودی آن واقعه هم مثل خبر سفر فضایی نخستین مرد توریست فضانورد فراموش می*شود و دیگر از انوشه انصاری هم جز در کتاب تاریخ رکوردها، نامی باقی نخواهد ماند. اما ظاهرا اینطور نیست و به نظر می*رسد انوشه انصاری از شهرت بدست آمده، از آن سفر فضایی گران قیمت، می*خواهد به گونه*ای متفاوت استفاده کند. سفرهای پی در پی به گوشه و کنار دنیا، برگزاری کنفرانس*ها و سخنرانی در دانشگاه*ها و مراکز معتبر و مخاطب قرار دادن کودکان و نوجوانان شیفته فضا، بخش مهمی از زندگی او را در کنار فعالیت*های اقتصادی*اش در بخش تکنولوژی ارتباطات شکل داده است.

[Rasputin]

در آخرین روز ماه فوریه، انوشه انصاری به دعوت مرکز علمی انتاریو به تورنتو آمده بود تا ضمن برگزاری دو جلسه سخنرانی عمومی، یکی برای کودکان و بزرگسالان و دیگری برای نوجوانان و جوانان ۱۴ تا ۲۴ ساله، نمایشگاه فضایی مرکز علمی انتاریو را هم رسما افتتاح کند.

استقبال بسیار قابل توجهی که از جلسات سخنرانی که پیرامون سفر فضایی او و پروژه*های آینده*اش انجام می*شود و دیدگاه*های تازه*ای که ارائه می*کند، نشان می*دهد که رویاهای آن دختربچه مشهدی، که تا سن ۱۶سالگی شب*ها با دیدن ستاره*ها آرزوهایش را به فضا می*فرستاد، حد و مرز و پایانی ندارد.

انوشه انصاری همچنان در اندیشه سفری دوباره به فضا است. وقتی از او می*پرسم چقدر حاضری برای سفر به کره ماه بپردازی، چشمانش برق می*زند و می*گوید: "*خیلی گران تمام می*شود." می*پرسم حاضری صد میلیون دلار بدهی و به کره ماه سفر کنی؟ کمی مکث می*کند و می*گوید پول زیادی است. ولی بلافاصله اضافه می*کند:" اگر کمپانی جدیدی که ایجاد کرده*ایم موفق بشود و امکان سفر به کره ماه باشد، حتما صد میلیون دلار هم پرداخت می*کنم."

[Rasputin]

روز بيست و هشتم شهريور ماه ۱۳۸۵ خورشيدی، روزی بود که نام يک ايرانی - آمريکایی، به عنوان نخستين توريست فضایی زن در جهان و چهارمين کيهان گرد دنيا، در تاريخ ثبت شد.

در آن روز مهندس انوشه انصاری، که چند روزی بود چهل سالگی را پشت سر گذاشته بود، با گذر از مدار زمين به آرزوی ديرينه خود دست يافت.

انوشه انصاری، اين پيشتازفضا که در سال ۱۳۶۳ برای ادامه تحصيل از ایران راهی آمريکا شد، دارای مدرک ليسانس کامپيوتر، فوق ليسانس الکترونيک و از کار آفرينان در عرصه اينترنت و ارتباطات است.

خانم انصاری که زاده مشهد است، در کاوش فضایی خود از حمايت همسرش حميد انصاری و ديگر اعضای خانواده برخوردار بود.

اين خانواده دو سال پيش از سفر انوشه انصاری، جايزه ای به مبلغ ده ميليون دلار را به يک شرکت غير دولتی اهداء کرد که مخترعان آن شرکت توانستند با پيروزی در يک رقابت جهانی، فضاپيمایی بسازند که قادر است دست کم دوبار در طول چهارده روز انسانی را به فضا برده و بازگرداند.

انوشه انصاری ميهمان گفتگوی ويژه اين هفته راديو فردا است.

رادیو فردا: اگر شما احيانا به عنوان يک بانوی موفق، چه برای خانم ها يا آقايان، قرار باشد نسخه ای تجویز کنید، يک نسخه فوری و سريع، و در آن بگوئيد رمز و راز موفق شدن چيست، فکر مي کنيد به آنها چه می گوئید؟

انوشه انصاری: فکر مي کنم دو عامل خيلی مهم، رمز و راز موفقيتی است که می توان به آن اشاره کنم. يکی اين است که برای هر کاری که قدم برمي دارند بايد واقعا به اين کار و يا در آن راهی که مي خواهند موفق بشوند، علاقه قلبی داشته باشند.

اگر اين علاقه واقعا وجود داشته باشد، باعث مي شود آن قدرت و استقامتی که قسمت دوم اين نسخه است و به آن احتياج دارند پيدا کنند تا با تمام مشکلاتی که با آنها مواجه مي شوند مبارزه کنند و در آن راه موفق شوند.

ولی اگر آن عشق و علاقه نباشد، آن سرسختی، استقامت و نيرویی که احتياج دارند خيلی سخت به دست مي آيد و به همين دليل ممکن است در بين راه با بروز کوچکترين مانعی ديگر نتوانند مبارزه کنند و تسليم شوند و نتوانند راه را به مقصد برسانند.

خانم انصاری، من وقتي که درباره فضانوردان ديگر مطالعه مي کردم متوجه شدم که بعد از اينکه مدتی از سفر آنها مي گذرد احساس عجيبی دارند، احساس اين که به چه اندازه دنيا بزرگ است و چقدر ما کوچک هستيم، همه چيز لايتناهی و بيکران است...فکر کردم شايد لازم است از شما سوال شود، حالا که به عقب نگاه مي کنيد سفر خود را چگونه مي بينيد؟

اين سفر برای من در حال حاضر هم به همان تازگی، مهمی و خوبی است که در روز شروع يا برگشت بود. همانطوری که می گوئيد هر اندازه که از سفر مي گذرد، مي توان درباره آن بيشتر فکر کرد.

مهمترين اتفاقی که به خاطر اين سفر افتاد، باعث شد که بتوانم به موقعيتی دسترسی پيدا کنم تا با بسياری از زنان و مردان جوان ايرانی و غير ايرانی در سراسر دنيا رابطه برقرار کنم و با آنها چه از طريق مصاحبه ها يا اينترنت بتوانم مکاتبه و مکالمه داشته باشم. اين برای من بسيار مهم بود.

چون انسان در فکر خود مسائل بسياری دارد و خيلی احساسات دارد و وقتی اين احساسات و تفکراتی را که در مورد دنيا، کشورهای مختلف، موقعيت جنگ، موقعيت صلح در تمام دنيا دارد، مطرح می کند، می بیند که خيلی ها هستند که مانند من درمورد اينها فکر می کنند و کسانی هستند که با من همفکری دارند.

اينکه توانستم از اين موقعيت استفاده کنم و اين احساس را داشته باشم باعث شد که نيروی بيشتری به من بدهد و وقت صرف کنم و راهی پيدا کنم تا بتوانم تمام اين صداهایی را که با هم همفکر هستند و در دنيا وجود دارند با هم يکی بکنم.

شايد با کمک به يکی کردن اين صداها بتوانيم زمانی و در موقعيتی باعث شویم که اين دنيا و موقعيت سياسی تمام جهان به طرف صلح باشد و موقعيتی باشد که ملل مختلف ازهر مذهب و نژادی که هستند بتوانند در کنار هم در صلح و صفا و متانت و احترام برای يکديگر، در کنار هم زندگی خوبی داشته باشند.

موقعيتی که در اين سفر فضايی برای من دست داد اين بود که توانستم زمين را از فضا ببينم و وقتی اين را مي بينيد متوجه مي شويد که به چه اندازه اين کره زمين که روی آن زندگی می کنيم زيباست و چقدر با تمام محيطی که دور و بر ما هست فرق دارد.

و اينکه واقعا اين خانه ای است برای ما که اگر از آن مواظبت نکنيم و آن را از دست بدهيم چيز ديگری در فضا نيست که شبيه زمين باشد و بتوانيم در آن زندگی را ادامه دهيم.

اين باعث می شود که متوجه شويم چگونه با جنگ، با نگهداری نکردن از محيط زيست خودمان داريم اين خانه ای که تنها منزل ماست، تنها جایی است که در تمام اين دنيا داريم از دست می دهيم و آن را از بين می بريم. عکسی از اين زمين در مغز من نقش بسته و هميشه در هرکاری مي کنم آن را می بينم.

شما زماني که مي خواستيد به فضا برويد از چيزی ترس نداشتيد؟ نگران چيزی نبوديد؟

البته ممکن است خيلی ها باور نکنند، ولی واقعا از ته دل خیلی خوشحال و هيجان زده بودم که اين موقعيت برای من بوجود آمده. ته قلبم مي دانستم که همه چيز خوب خواهد گذشت و هيچ مشکلی نخواهم داشت و به هيچ وجه ترسی نداشتم. فقط تنها احساسم خوشحالی و شعف و هيجان زياد بود.

بعد از سفر به فضا، نحوه برخورد کارمندانتان با شما تغيير کرده؟

کارمندانی که اينجا بودند و من را قبلا مي شناختند، نحوه برخورد آنها بعد از سفرم تغيير نکرده، ولی وقتی من را مي ديدند خيلی هيجان زده بودند.

برنامه ای گذاشتيم که فرزندان آنها حضور داشته باشند و برای آنها عکس هايم را امضاء کردم و به آنها جايزه داديم .برای همين خيلی خوشحالند و به همه پز مي دهند که رییس شرکت من انوشه است که به فضا رفته و برای بقيه خيلی جالب است که اينها برای من کار مي کنند و مي پرسند که شما آنجا کار می کنيد؟ انوشه را مي بينيد؟ اصلا آنجا هست؟ مي توانيد با او صحبت کنيد؟

البته اينجا محيط کار است و آنها همکاران من هستند و به عنوان همکار رابطه نزديکی داريم و بقيه اين را باور نمي کنند. رابطه کارمندانم با من فرقی نکرده ولی از اين موقعيتی که بوجود آمده استفاده مي کنند و به دوستان و آشنايان خود پز مي دهند.

چه کسی از خانواده شما به عنوان نفر بعدی قرار است به فضا برود؟

برادر شوهرم خيلی علاقه دارد که به فضا برود.

[Rasputin]

Anousheh Ansari

Encourages students to pursue science

[Rasputin]

Anousheh Ansari
Encourages students to pursue science

[satishbhawra53]

A Russian report claiming that U.S. entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari may become the first female space tourist