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September 12, 2006 Hello World! I don't know who is reading this. Maybe you are a young girl, curious to know who I am… Maybe a young man who liked my picture in the paper… Maybe someone who always dreamed about flying to space and wants to know how it feels to be close to realizing this dream… Maybe you heard about Ansari X Prize and want to know what the future holds for me and X Prize… Maybe you are an Iranian who is excited to hear the news of another Iranian-born going to space… Or maybe you are reading this by mistake. In any case, whoever you are and for whatever reason you happen to be reading this page… Welcome to my blog… This is the first blog I have ever written. I'm usually a private person, but with what has happened in my life, I feel an obligation to share this experience with everyone out there. As you probably know I am, in “space lingo,” at L-9. (Translation: 9 days before Launch :-)). I have been in Quarantine in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, since September 2nd. You can read all about Baikonur at Russian Space Web and Wikipedia . I am sending a few pictures to give you a sense of where I am. This is the same place where the first person in space, Yuri Gagarin, launched from 45 years ago. Also the same place that the first female in space, Valentina Tereshkova, launched from in 1963. Since those early days of spaceflight, there has been a tradition that the cosmonauts plant a tree upon their return. I hope to plant one when I return. I have included some pictures of Gagarin and Tereshkova's trees. There are many trees alongside a long walkway that takes you to a view of the vast desert land of Baikonur. One thing you can say about Russian space launches, there are many traditions and ceremonies. The closer you get to the launch day, the more ceremonies there are. I'm learning about them as I go. These traditions and ceremonies are what make these days very special and memorable. Pictures of our “Fit Check,” when we suited up and went into our capsule to make sure we “Fit” :-), and also of us raising the flags outside our “Cosmonaut Hotel,” are posted on my website as well as the NASA Expedition 14 website. So now that you know where I am let me tell you why I'm here… A long, long time ago, in a country far, far away… there was a young girl who had her eyes fixed on the twinkling stars of the night skies over Tehran. Back then the air was not so polluted and you could see many stars in the night skies. Summer time, when they would set up the beds outside on the balcony to sleep, she would lay in her bed and look deep into the mysterious darkness of the universe and think to herself, What's out there? Is someone out there awake in her bed, and gazing at her in the night sky? Will she ever find her… See her… Will she fly out there and float in the wonderful, boundless freedom of space? Well, as fate would have it, yes… If you had asked that young girl, do you want to fly to space? her answer would have been an Enthusiastic YES! If you had asked her, do you think you will fly, the answer would have also been a Hopeful YES! And now that moment is finally near… I was born in Iran and lived there until age 16, then migrated with my family to the U.S. and got an education in Electrical Engineering, and basically was fortunate to live the American Dream. Don't get me wrong, the Road to Baikonur was not an easy one and had many ups and downs and obstacles. But what is important is that I stuck to my dream and did not lose my way. I hope that my trip becomes an inspiration for all of you to follow your dreams, wherever they take you. I also hope to show you the universe/space through my eyes and help you see how important space exploration is for our species. We need young imaginative minds to gaze at the skies to help us build a future that will not be earthbound. Over the next few days before my launch, I will share with you my feelings and sentiments as I approach the Launch day, some details about my flight and the ceremonies and training I'm receiving. I look forward to sharing the next few weeks of my life with each and every one of you… Anousheh

9 September 2006

September 12, 2006 Birthday Bouquets Filed under: Space Explorer - X PRIZE @ 6:01 pm So far I've had a very special day. First when the doctor came to my room this morning to get my rest heart rate and BP, he brought me flowers. Then when I opened the door of our room to the hallway, there was a big poster of me with happy birthday wishes on the wall. When I went down for breakfast there was a big arrangement of red roses, and a specially baked apple pie and some beautifully decorated food on the table. Soon after, General Korzoun walked in with the head of the training program and presented me with a big basket of white roses. I will send you some pictures. They told me my birthday present is coming this afternoon. I was told that the tradition in Russia is that the person having a birthday throws a party. So I have invited everyone for beer after dinner. This is a very special and memorable birthday as you can imagine. I'm only missing Hamid to make it perfect. Quarantine is not too bad. It is just a little like groundhog day since everything is repetitive. We have designated times for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and quite a few choices of food. We are not allowed in the kitchen and cannot cook. We cannot leave the premises and can walk around only under supervision. I think I know how Martha Stewart felt in her minimum security prison On the other hand, everyone is super nice and they are doing everything they can to help us and make our stay comfortable. I have made friends that I will remember forever. So all in all no complaints… Just a few more days and I will be in orbit … Inshaallah September 13, 2006 Training as Backup Filed under: Space Explorer - Anousheh @ 5:21 pm WoW! Not bad for a first time blogger I'm happy to see so many people are interested in my experience. Some of you asked me for a picture of the backup crew so I decided to give you more. I decided to share what it was like to train as backup with Peggy Whitson and Yuri Malenchenko. In the first few months of training, almost all my classes were with Dice-K and the interpreters. We took the same classes and the same tests. We performed the simulations with the instructors and only caught a glimpse of the main and backup crew as we were passing in the hallways or at social events. The last 40 days were different. Dice-K and I started to see some scheduled crew training. Dice-k would train with Michael Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin, and I would train with Peggy Whitson and Yuri Malenchenko. I had met Peggy at a few NASA crew events in Star City and we had talked. She is a woman of strong character, super smart, and serious about space. She offered to talk with me and answer my questions any time I wanted to talk. I was very excited to get to know her and at the same time I knew she had a very tight training schedule and I did not want to be a burden. So we talked a few short times but did not connect that much. When we started to train as a crew, everything changed. We got to know each other better. I could tell that Peggy was observing me to see if I was there just for the ride or if I'm genuinely interested in space. I think she saw my genuine passion for space because she really made me feel welcome. In ISS simulations, she was the Commander and gave me some small tasks that made me feel part of the crew. She explained everything in detail and translated for me when necessary. She gave me small pointers that made me perform well on my tasks and look professional. She was wonderful and I learned so much from her. In a way, she became my mentor. I imagine that, had my life taken a different turn and I had ended up in the Astronaut corps, I could have been like Peggy. She is a serious scientist and deeply cares for the success of the space program. Throughout the rest of my training program I spent many quality hours with Peggy observing her and learning from her. She shared stories about her space flight and little things that you don't think of but make a big difference when you are in space. She told me about the best observing stations onboard ISS, about how to move around, how to wash my hair and clean myself, how to use the toilet (everyone's favorite subject) and how to interact with the rest of the crew members. Getting to know Yuri took longer. Yuri is a quiet and private person. He is a man of few words. He works meticulously and slowly. He does not hurry and studies and evaluates everything around him before he takes action. Watching him in the simulator, during a series of manual docking and undocking procedures, it was obvious that he knew how to drive this vehicle with his eyes closed. He was calm and composed while entering a series of very precise maneuvers to align the Soyuz manually with the docking hatch on the ISS. He speaks very good English, which made it easier for me to start talking with him. As we spent more time training together, I got to know him better. He has a unique sense of humor that is hard see from his always serious exterior. He is a wealth of knowledge and when he talks about different things you know he is speaking from experience and not textbooks. He is very easygoing and has a very calm voice. One time he started talking to me about all the different stages of Ascent and Descent and explained to me, in detail, what to expect as far as feelings, sounds, vibrations, lights flashing, etc. He gave me a sort of pictorial view of these important stages of my space flight and helped me visualize things that I had not studied in any of my classes. The information he gave has helped me prepare mentally not to panic on the day of the flight. At the end of our talk he said, with a SMILE, “Anousheh, don't worry, everything will be very good and you will enjoy your flight.” As I was training with Peggy and Yuri, I realized that I really wanted to fly to ISS with them. It would have made it a very special flight, with two women flying in Soyuz together and with Peggy being the first woman ISS Commander. Unfortunately the third seat on their scheduled flight was taken so I quickly started to lobby for switching place with the Malaysian candidate who was supposed to fly with them. They were both supportive of the idea and I was excitedly pushing on different people to negotiate with the Russian Space program to move me to their flight. And then… suddenly… I got the news that I was moved up to primary crew… and the rest of the story you know. September 14, 2006 Price of a Dream Filed under: Space Explorer - Anousheh @ 7:55 pm How do you put a price on your Dream? Is it worth one month's salary? Is it worth one year's salary? Is it worth your child's college savings account? Is it worth all your retirement money? Is it worth losing a limb? Is it worth dying for? What is the right price for a dream? I don't have an answer for it. But I believe it is different for every person. For me, I was ready, and still am, to give my life for my dream. Someone once asked me, “Would you go, knowing all the dangers?” I said I would go if I knew with certainty that it would not be a one-way ticket. Russian Space Agency might not be interested in my life, but they are interested in my money Where did my money come from… From hard work, an incredible amount of risk, and many sacrifices that my family and I had to make. Do we have the right to decide what to do with this hard-earned money? I would think so! Does this mean that I'm selfish and do not care about all the suffering that goes on in the world? Well, I must say that you need to get to know me better and decide for yourself. However, I would like to share a few thoughts with you. How do you decide how to spend your money or effort when it comes down to making a change? A Big Change! Let's say you want to cure cancer. Do you go buy medicine for the cancer patients? Do you create support centers for the patients? Do you give it to a university doing research? Do you create a prize for cancer research? Do you create scholarship funds for medical students who will do specific research on cancer? Do you go find the biggest cause of cancer and try to lobby to destroy the cause? As you can see there are many ways to tackle a problem. What you choose is up to you. The impact could be local and small and help a few in the short term - or it could be cause for a long-term epidemic change in cancer cases and prevention. Personally, I almost always focus on long-term fundamental activities that address the root causes of a problem. I may not feed hungry children, not because I don't care, but because feeding 100, or 1000, or 100,000 does not solve the problem. Many of the hunger problems occur because of drought and bad farming practices. Did you know that space research helps figure out changes in soil conditions and environment and ways of preventing crop damage? Space scientists may be microbiologists, engineers, nutritionists, chemists, plant pathologists or other field specialists who work together to find ways of growing better crops here on Earth and in orbit, to produce renewable raw material for industries here on Earth as well as for use in remote moons and planets, and to find ways to save and protect our environment. I'm hoping I will inspire more and more people to go to these fields to find ways to keep crops from getting destroyed and better ways to grow crops so people will not go hungry. You may also argue that hunger happens because of war. I would agree with that. I also think many people go hungry not because there is a lack of food or help from other countries but because of the lack of honest and effective systems to get the food in the hands of those hungry children. The only way we can change this is through education of our youth to become free thinkers. To be people of high moral standards in their own consciousness not based on standards set by others, and to use their imagination to bring about radical change when they see that change is needed. This is also a message that I'm trying to send to the world. I support organizations like X Prize and Ashoka Foundation because they are not about making a difference in a small community. These organizations are about Changing the World and making it a better place to live for everyone. What is the price of a dream…? For me, it is putting my life and my money where my mouth is. September 15, 2006 My Favorite Things! Filed under: Space Explorer - Anousheh @ 8:15 pm Growing up, one of my favorite movies was The Sound of Music. I still remember a few of the lyrics in both Farsi and English. The song I like most is “My Favorite Things.” I actually recited this song over and over when I had to do my spinning chair training. I will send a short, low-quality video that someone took with a small photo camera. The test is supposed to help you with your vestibular system. As you may know, when you fly in zero-G your vestibular system gets all messed up, sort of like when you are on a boat. You can get nauseous and feel miserable. The effects differ by individual. Some people are more susceptible to this problem and some adapt very quickly, but one of the essential things that is packed in our space suit, in a nice easily accessible pocket, is a “barf bag” (sorry I don't know the technical term for it). The views on the effectiveness of this test vary. Basically there are two types of exercises, one is spinning in one direction for 10-15 minutes while you move your head from shoulder to shoulder, left and right. In the other test, you spin in one direction for one minute, stop and then spin in the reverse direction. While spinning you have to bend forward at the waist and back. This is also done for 10-15 minutes. You may think this one is easier, but actually it is more difficult. Feel free to try it at home… Have a friend spin you on an office chair and try it. Just make sure you have a barf bag nearby As you can imagine, this is NOT one of my favorite things, so by singing the song or doing simple math calculations in my head I keep myself from getting sick. I had to do this exercise several times in Star City and almost everyday since we arrived in Baikonur. Talking about favorite things, I thought you may be curious to know some of mine… I love listening to music. I have no talent in playing any instrument but I love listening to all sort of instruments, specially violin, santur and daf (the last two instruments are used in Persian music, you can see them on this website .) . I like instrumental and new age music, but I also love listening to jazz and blues, light rock and dance music. I guess the only music I don't listen to often is heavy metal. I guess I'm too old for it ;-). So here are a few of my favorite things… Favorite books: How to Change the World by David Bornstein (I'm trying to have this book translated to Farsi) The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell The Little Prince ~ Le Petit Prince ~ Shazdeh Khouchoulu (My favorite childhood book) Favorite Movies: Of course Star Trek Braveheart Last of the Mohicans Gladiator Contact Pay it Forward Favorite Artists: Googoosh J Ebbi Sting (especially Fragile) Sade Dianne Krall Oysten Sevag (specially Norwegian Mountains) Rod Stewart Michael Buble Pink Madonna Ziba Shirazi Andrea Bocelli Shahin & Sepehr Deep Dish Favorite Songs: Faith of the Heart by Rod Stewart Imagine by John Lennon Fragile by Sting Upside Down by Jack Johnson Mass Destruction by Faithless Rise Again by DJ Sammy Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra Zan by Ziba Shirazi Title song for Last of the Mohicans soundtrack Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong I Don't Want to be a Stupid Girl by Pink (Great, fun video too) Stop Your Fussin' by Toni Childs The Entire CD from Notre Dame de Paris musical

September 16, 2006 Rendez-Vous at X Prize Cup Filed under: Space Explorer - Anousheh @ 5:07 pm I wanted to let you all know that I will be at the X Prize Cup event in Las Cruces New Mexico October 20-21 . You will see me roaming around and spending a lot of time in the children's tent That' s where I spent a lot of time last year. They have cool simulators and I'm a kid at heart so I stood in line with the 12- and 13-year-olds to play with the simulators. The event last year was a pre-opening event and it was attended by a lot of space enthusiasts. There was a wonderful positive space energy in the air. We had an excellent education program, and the kids and adults enjoyed it equally. I was so excited when X Prize Foundation was able to get support from the state of New Mexico to start this annual event. It is the best space event I have attended. There was so much excitement and this year it will be even better. There are a few exciting competitions that will be fun to watch, like the Lunar Lander Challenge and the Space Elevator Games … and then you have the Rocket Man. The X Prize Cup is a reminder that the Foundation is committed to inspiring technological advancement for commercial space - and dedicated to educating young imaginative minds about the potential of space. If you see me around, come and say Hi and tell me that you read this blog and I will give you my autographed personal patch . I hope to see you there. Bring your telescope or binoculars - the night sky is beautiful to watch.