Anousheh Ansari had an excellent excuse to drop the subject of astrology.
“I’m sorry, I can’t finish this class,” he told his teacher. “I’m going to space.”
It was 2006, and a spot had opened up on the Soyuz spacecraft en route to the International Space Station. An increase in chronic kidney stones has ruled out a candidate for the Japanese mission. Ansari was next in line.
She jumped at the chance to become the first self-funded woman in space. But it was what he did next that greased the wheels for commercial aviation and laid the foundation for future space tourism.
Ansari was awarded an honorary doctorate of science this week in recognition of his impact on space exploration and research by Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology, where he studied astronomy online.
Ansari witnessed the Islamic revolution growing in Tehran. In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini took power and the government closed his school, ruining his ambitions to become an astronaut or cosmonaut. “The new Iran did not tolerate such dreams from a woman,” he said.
His family moved to Washington DC in 1984, while Ansari studied electrical engineering and computer science. She went on to launch a communications company with her husband.
Their work earned them millions. As his 40th birthday approached, Ansari booked his $20 million space ticket.
Working with Space Adventures, a company that offered space flights through the Russian space program, Ansari underwent six months of astronaut training before blasting off in September 2006. His 11-day trip to the ISS changed him.
“You’re outside where your whole world is — your family, your friends, your school, your home, your memories. And you’re looking at it from above — it’s like an outside experience,” Ansari said after receiving his doctorate on Thursday.
“Small things disappear and you only see big ones. You see landscapes, you don’t see boundaries, you don’t see divisions. That’s the message I came back with.”
After battling microgravity-induced vomiting sickness, Ansari participated in experiments with back pain and anemia, taking swabs from his body to test how bacteria would grow in space.
Re-entering was the scariest moment. The Soyuz capsule was small and hot. Hitting the atmosphere and feeling the parachutes deploy was like going over Niagara Falls in a trolley, Ansari recalled, borrowing the phrase of another astronaut.
The capsule hit the ground hard because Russia could not reach the open water area like Artemis II. But Ansari had reached home. His journey had a profound effect on what he did later.
“I realized that we usually spend 80 percent of our time on trivial things – what I call ‘life noise’ – and maybe only 20 percent on important things,” he said.
“I decided to change that ratio, and focus 80 percent of my time and attention on the important things in my life, and only 20 percent on the noise.”
Ansari left his business to become the chief executive of the XPRIZE Foundation, a non-profit organization that runs lucrative competitions aimed at advancing technological innovation. The first competition, the Ansari XPRIZE, awarded US$10 million to the first non-governmental organization to build a reusable spacecraft.
Burt Rutan won with SpaceShipOne, his test flight. The flurry of activity spurred by the award is credited with kickstarting the $469 billion US space industry, which is leading to frequent launches from companies including SpaceX and Blue Origin.
About 700 people have gone into space; that number is likely to increase due to the renewed interest driven by Artemis II and the commercial sector that Ansari helped in part to launch.
A space visit could soon be like climbing Mount Everest, Ansari says — a testing ground for travelers who can afford it, with the added bonus of proving Earth’s value to all who travel beyond our atmosphere.
“I’m not saying everyone should go to space,” Ansari said. “But those who are interested, should have the opportunity to see it. Because as I explained, it has changed me.”
“I spend all my time now with XPRIZE understanding the problems that prevent us from having a balanced and abundant world. Star Trek fan, so I want to build Star Trek world for us – without the Klingons, of course.
In the latest XPRIZE chapter, teams from four countries competed for $3.5 million last week at the NSW Rural Fire Service headquarters, testing new ways to quickly detect bushfires from the air.
When asked about the conflict that is destroying his country, Ansari says: “We have a good situation right now that we need to overcome in order to reach the good future I hope for.”
But his memories of space – and a new image of Earth’s rise captured by the crew of Artemis II – give him hope that peace is possible.
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Angus Dalton is a science reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect through X or email address.
