As a little girl, Anousheh Ansari dreamed of going to space. That dream came true when the immigrant from Iran and self-made multi-millionaire became the first female space tourist.
“I can’t believe I’m here,” she remembers thinking during the 2006 blast-off. “Is this really happening? Am I really soon to be floating in the weightlessness of space? Is this real? Or am I in the dream I had as a little girl in Iran?”
Now, Ansari wants to incentivize other to achieve grand dreams through her company, XPRIZE.
Anousheh Ansari Looked to the Stars
Following her parents’ divorce, Ansari looked to the stars as an escape. A devoted fan of Star Trek, she saw space as a new and exciting world, away from the chaos surrounding her at home and in the streets of Meshhad, Iran.
The tumult of Khomeini’s Revolution in Iran caused massive change in Ansari’s life. She found the mandatory hijab “hot and itchy” and always slipping out of place. Worse, she could no longer play basketball and soccer freely. After the Iran-Iraq war began, things quickly devolved into a chaotic swirl of Iraqi planes, blackouts, sirens and kerosene lanterns that she used for studying.
Against this backdrop, Ansari turned even more to the milky way as a dream of escape.
The U.S. Offered Ansari New Opportunities
When Ansari first arrived in the United States, she spoke almost no English. But through hard work, she earned her undergraduate degree from George Mason University, and a Masters in Electrical Engineering from The George Washington University.
Ansari and her family found success in the United States. After selling their telecommunications company, the Ansaris made a large donation to the X Foundation with the purpose of incentivizing private space travel.
In 2006, Ansari’s life-long dream finally came true as she strapped into one of the firstcommercial space capsules, and launched into the stars.
Ansari Believes Everyone Should Pursue Their Dreams
Since achieving her own dream of visiting space, Ansari has devoted herself to helping others achieve theirs. To this end, she has founded several companies and foundations that offer incentives and help to young dreamers, including the Ansari XPRIZE and The Billion DollarFund for Women.
She looks back on the origin of her own dreams, a little girl wanting more from life than what she heard and saw around her.
“I want to reach women and girls in remote parts of the world where women are not encouraged to go into science and technology jobs,” she says. “They should believe in what they want and pursue it.”
