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First female private space explorer to visit CSB as Renaissance Series speaker
January 21, 2010
When Anousheh Ansari speaks about "Reaching for the Stars and Getting There," she knows a thing or two about the topic.
Ansari, the first female private space explorer, is the 2009-10 speaker in the College of Saint Benedict Renaissance Series. She speaks on that theme at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8 in room 204, Gorecki Dining 
and Conference Center, CSB. The event is free and open to the public.
Ansari was a member of the Soyuz TMA-9 mission with two other astronauts, which blasted off Sept. 18, 2006, from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Two days later, the Russian spacecraft docked with the International Space Station for an eight-day stay. She returned to Earth Sept. 29 in the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft.
While in space, she conducted experiments on behalf of the European Space Agency. Ansari also became the first person to publish a blog from space.
She was the fourth private explorer to visit space, and the first astronaut of Iranian descent.
Ansari, who did not speak any English, immigrated to the United States as a teenager from Iran. She earned a bachelor's degree in electronics and computer engineering from George Mason University, followed by a master's degree in electrical engineering from George Washington University. Ansari has an honorary doctorate from the International Space University, and is currently working toward a master's degree in astronomy from Swinburne University.
A proponent of world-changing technologies, Ansari co-founded Telecom Technologies, Inc. in 1993, which created a product called a "softswitch" that allowed voice communications over the Internet which was sold for over $750 million in 2001.
To help drive the commercialization of the space industry, Ansari and her family provided title sponsorship for the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million cash award for the first non-governmental organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within a two-week period. Aerospace designer Burt Rutan won the award in 2004 with his sub-orbital spaceplane SpaceShipOne.
Ansari is now CEO, chairman and co-founder of Prodea Systems, a company that hopes to change the way consumers interact with the Internet, integrating digital technology and data into their lives.
Serving the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, the Renaissance Series was established by CSB President MaryAnn Baenninger in 2006 to bring speakers to CSB who "demonstrate the diversity of opportunities available for women and men and . . . to encourage them to broaden their horizons in every respect, particularly in areas that are less traditional for the respective genders."
Speakers for this series are chosen based on their unique, compelling point of view on a current topic and their potential to enhance the intellectual vigor of CSB and SJU. Ansari will also meet with student groups during her stay at CSB.
Past speakers in the series have included National Geographic photographer Annie Griffiths Belt; author, economist and professor Sylvia Nasar; professor of theology Sandra Keating (a 1986 graduate of CSB); and Judith Yaphe, a specialist in Middle Eastern political analysis.