**LIVE UPDATE PAGES \u2013 with extensive background, images, news and live updates** Launch Preview:<\/em><\/u><\/p>\n While most of the media attention is firmly focused on the Iranian-born American Ansari, the launch marks an extremely busy few days in the space flight arena, following Atlantis\u2019 undocking on Sunday, the upcoming Soyuz TMA-9 launch and the undocking of Progress M-56\/21P late on Monday.<\/p>\n In preparation for the arrival of VC11 (Visiting Crewmember #11), Expedition 14 commander Pavel Vinogradov \u2013 who will return to Earth in just over a week with Jeff Williams and Ansari \u2013 set up the SM work area for Ansari\u2019s planned experiments during her seven day stay on the station. <\/p>\n That included prepping the work area with the pre-delivered equipment is vital for the success of VC11 by reducing the SFP (Spaceflight Participant)\u2019s time spent on her program, which she paid around $20 million for the privilege.<\/font><\/p>\n \u2018I was a critic of space tourism, in so far as sending people to the International Space Station \u2013 which is still under construction and not a place for the light hearted,\u2019 said Lopez-Alegria. \u2018Nether the less, I recognise the requirements the Russian Space Agency has to keep its program alive. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018We can\u2019t do what we\u2019re doing without them, so if that\u2019s the correct solution \u2013 and if someone like Ansari can be that person \u2013 then I can come realisation that not only is it good from a technical standpoint, but it\u2019s also good from the standpoint that she represents a great dream for a lot of people.\u2019<\/p>\n Ansari, co-founder and CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI) and multi-million co-contributor to the X-Prize foundation, was exclusively reported by this site as in training to be back up for Daisuke Enomoto of Japan, back in March, after she was spotted in preparation for training to start at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC).<\/p>\n She got her chance to fly with Expedition 14, following the withdrawal of Enomoto, although that has not proven to be a problem, as she was heaped with praise by Tyurin, during Sunday\u2019s pre-launch press conference. <\/p>\n \u2018I was sincerely surprised when we started training together by the high level of professionalism that she has shown, despite not being a professional astronaut,\u2019 said the Russian cosmonaut. \u2018She became such a natural part of our crew that we\u2019ve been under the impression that we\u2019ve been working together for 10 years.\u2019<\/p>\n Ansari herself believes this is more than just an expensive jaunt into orbit, noting her wish to expand on the initial goals of her X prize foundation, to spread interest in private space exploration investment. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s been over 45 years since the first human travelled to space, and over those years only government agencies have been working towards the goal of space exploration,\u2019 said Ansari. \u2018In order for us to make giant steps towards space exploration, we need the private industries to get involved and help the government agencies to help make that lofty goal come true. <\/font><\/p>\n \u2018So I\u2019m hoping to be an ambassador by taking that message out there, and to get more people interested \u2013 as well as getting more private investment into the age of space exploration.\u2019<\/p>\n **NASASpaceflight.com Job Opportunities**<\/em><\/font> <\/em><\/font><\/p>\n (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n <\/u><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Expedition 14 commander Mike Lopez-Alegria, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and space tourist Anousheh Ansari are on their way to the International Space Station (ISS) on their Soyuz TMA-9, following a successful launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch was covered as a live event by NASASpaceflight.com \u2013 with updates and free video on the links […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41935"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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**SOYUZ TMA 9 LAUNCH VIDEO**<\/em> \u2013 <\/font>
<\/em>(Video section is FREE, but you need to sign up as a member of the forum to enter the video section of the site. We only use your e-mail to send you your password. It will not be used for spam etc.)<\/em><\/font><\/font><\/font> <\/p>\nSpace tourism is a touchy subject with some sectors of the space flight community, especially when it comes to accommodating those travellers on the International Space Station. However, with the Russians needing the cash, such events are deemed necessary.<\/p>\n
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<\/em><\/font>LIVE UPDATE PAGES<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n