World's first woman space tourist

An Iran-born American telecommunications entrepreneur on Monday became the world's first private woman space tourist as a Russian rocket carrying a US-Russian crew lifted off the Baikonur space centre in the former Soviet Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan.

Anousheh Ansari, 40, paid $20 million (approximately Rs 92 crore) for a space ride ticket to spend 10 days at the International Space Station.

"The lift-off took place at 8.09 am. Moscow time (9.39 am IST)," the Mission Control Centre for the Soyuz TMA-9 situated in Stellar Town Korolyov near Moscow said.

The Russian Soyuz TMA-9 space ferry lifted off in less than 24-hours after the US space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the ISS and began its journey back to earth.

Nine minutes after lift-off the Soyuz reached its orbit at an altitude of over 200 km.

Ansari is to conduct three experiments: two for the European Space Agency and one for Russia's Energia space corporation.

She will return to earth with the crew of the 13th expedition. She started training at the Gagarin training centre in Russia as a backup for Japanese space tourist Daisuke Enomoto, who failed his medical tests.

The Soyuz TMA-9 space ferry with Ansari, NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin will dock with the ISS on Wednesday. They are due to return to earth on September 29.

Photograph: Maxim Marmur/AFP/Getty Images