Anousheh Ansari believes that space exploration will
be an important part of the future of the human
race and that everyone should eventually have
access to space travel.

As a young girl in Iran, Anousheh Ansari dreamed of travelling into space. In 2006, that dream came true when she joined the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) on an eight-day trip aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, becoming the world’s first female space tourist.

Co-founder of Prodea Systems, a digital home-technology company, the US-based Anousheh is undertaking a masters degree in astronomy through Swinburne University of Technology’s Astronomy Online (SAO) program.

While she is excited to have realised her dream, she is also keenly focused on sharing her experience.

"Since I was a young girl in Iran, space has always fascinated me," she says. "I would lie on my balcony at night and look up at the stars. I was intrigued by the sheer mystery of space: what’s out there, what’s it like and how could I get there. I made the decision when I was still young to be an astronaut or astrophysicist and travel into space."

Anousheh’s family migrated to the US when she was a teenager and she completed a bachelor’s degree in electronics and computer engineering followed by a master’s degree in electrical engineering.

In 1994, she and her husband Hamid formed their own company, Telecom Technologies Inc, which developed a ‘soft switch’ to enable voice communications over the internet. In 2001, the company merged with Sonus Networks Inc, a provider of IP-based voice infrastructure products, in a deal worth about $750 million.

The funds allowed Anousheh and her family to promote commercial opportunities in the space industry, including their title sponsorship for the Ansari X Prize, a US$10 million cash award for the first non-governmental organisation to launch a re-usable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks.

Anousheh is passionate in her belief that space exploration will be an important part of the future of the human race, and that space travel will be something everyone should eventually have access to. "My dream is to see space travel become like a normal option for future family vacations. So my family is working toward helping the industry develop and make space travel more affordable and accessible. The Ansari X Prize was an important step in that process."

Anousheh purposefully avoids the term ‘space tourist’, which she believes undervalues what crew members – privately funded or not – must do on a mission.

"I started a six-month preparation for the trip in February 2006 at Star City in Russia. This included classroom training, simulator training, zero gravity and survival techniques – the same training received by astronauts," she explains. "My training was at ‘user’ level, while astronauts undergo another two years’ in-depth training to a ‘repair systems’ level."

It took two days in orbit to reach the ISS and she spent eight days on the space station.

Anousheh has been studying online at Swinburne since 2005 and during her stay on board the ISS she participated in experiments with the European Space Agency. The experiments involved investigating the physiological changes experienced by the human body in a microgravity environment and the lower back pain that most astronauts suffer during their first few days in space. In another experiment she investigated the spread and survival of microbial life on board the space station. She also became the first person to publish a weblog from space.

"I always wanted to study astronomy, but with my career and constant travel it was impossible. Then a friend told me about SAO and I signed up immediately. I have been enjoying the freedom of studying what I love best in a way that fits in with my lifestyle."

Anousheh says the course has taught her about the cosmos, the formation of the stars and the universe. "The more I learn, the more I realise how little we know about our universe and how much potential for learning and discovery still exists," she says. "I also love the exposure to people around the world through the online discussion area.

"It is a true online community that shares more than technical topics. Many of the other students have become friends and we visit each other. I had the opportunity to meet two of my classmates from London and Australia last year."

In fact, it was a fellow SAO student and now graduate of the Swinburne program who helped organise Anousheh’s journey into space.

Mike McDowell, inveterate traveller and co-founder of the company Space Adventures, also founded Deep Ocean Expeditions, a company which organises submarine expeditions to famous underwater sites. Using Russian MIR submersibles, their diving expeditions include the wrecks of the Titanic and Bismarck. They have also taken groups to ancient Roman and Etruscan shipwrecks in the Mediterranean.

"We dived in a submarine at the North Pole recently, using Russian submarines and icebreakers," Mike says. "They raised a Russian flag, but I put down a plaque that says ‘Mike McDowell, Australia’ to show my kids."

Mike is currently preparing for a 2000-kilometre expedition across Antarctica where he will celebrate his 60th birthday.

After completing a science degree with a major in physics at the University of New South Wales in the 1960s, Mike worked as a geophysicist for the Bureau of Mineral Resources, now Geoscience Australia.

"My interest in expeditioning and going to weird places was piqued after I spent a year on Macquarie Island, on one of the ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition) trips in 1971," he recalls.

While he was on Macquarie Island, a ship arrived that was later to have a big impact on his life – the ship was the Lindblad Explorer (which recently sank in Antarctica).

He returned to Canberra for a few years, but the national capital could not hold him for long. A short back-packing trip around South America was extended to three years.

While living in Rio de Janeiro, the Lindblad Explorer again appeared on the scene. This time when it departed, Mike was on board: "I went off to Antarctica and became the expedition leader on the ship for the next seven years."

Mike spent 27 years leading expeditions and travelling, before starting his own Antarctic tourism companies involving ships and icebreakers. His company Quark Expeditions pioneered the use of icebreakers to take people into the frozen reaches of the Arctic, Antarctic and North Pole. Another company, Antarctic Logistics, specialises in travel to the interior of Antarctica.

While pursuing his adventures on earth and co-founding Space Adventures, Mike maintained his love of physics and science.

Reading an astronomy magazine one day he saw an advertisement for SAO and decided to return to study. SAO concentrates on fundamental astronomy concepts and is designed for science educators and communicators, people working in astronomy-related fields, amateur astronomers and anyone with a love of astronomy. Its flexibility and fully online nature were perfect for Mike’s circumstances.

He says the Master of Science (Astronomy) degree introduced him to astronomy and astrophysics … to "what’s happening in a supernova, what happens in a gamma ray burster, magnetars, and spinning neutron stars.

"We need to have some idea of these things to understand who we are and what a strange chance occurrence we are."