Anousheh Ansari

Anousheh Ansari
Ansari in 2005
Born
Anousheh Raissyan

(1966-09-12) September 12, 1966 (age 58)
Mashhad, Iran
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma materGeorge Mason University (BSc)
George Washington University (MSc)
Occupations
  • Businesswoman
  • engineer
TitleCEO of XPRIZE Foundation[1]
Spouse
Hamid Ansari
​
(m. 1991)​
Relatives
StatusRetired
Space career
Spaceflight participant
Time in space
10d 21h 5m
MissionsSoyuz TMA-9/8

Anousheh Ansari (Persian: انوشه انصاری; née Raissyan;[2] born September 12, 1966) is an Iranian-American engineer, space tourist, and entrepreneur. She is the co-founder and chairwoman of Prodea Systems, and her previous business accomplishments include serving as co-founder and chief executive officer of Telecom Technologies, Inc. On September 18, 2006, a few days after her 40th birthday, she became the first Iranian person to be in outer space.[3] Ansari was the fourth overall self-funded space tourist and the first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station. Her memoir My Dream of Stars, co-written with American engineer Homer Hickam, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2010.[4]

She is also the chief executive officer of the XPRIZE Foundation, and the Ansari family is the title sponsor of the Ansari X Prize.[5]

  1. ^ "X Prize-Our People, Anousheh Ansari, CEO". Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  2. ^ "U.S.: Iranian-American To Be First Female Civilian In Space". RFE/RL. 2006-09-15. Archived from the original on 20 January 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-12.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference cheers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer". macmillan.com. Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  5. ^ "Our Board". X Prize Foundation.