Space tourist checking in at the office

Anousheh Ansari answers a question during a news conference from the International Space Station. Picture / Nasa TV

WASHINGTON - Talk about telecommuting. Space tourist Anousheh Ansari says she's staying on top of things at the office even as she orbits the Earth on the International Space Station.

"I'm keeping up to date with what's going on in our office and the progress everyone's making, so they're sending me status reports," Ansari told reporters in a live link-up.

"It's wonderful, the technology up here, it's like I've never left the Earth and like I'm sitting in my office actually," the 40-year-old Iranian-American telecommunications entrepreneur said, her necklace floating beneath her chin in the weightless environment.

Ansari arrived at the space station by Soyuz spacecraft on Wednesday, becoming the first female tourist, the first female Muslim and the first Iranian in orbit. She is scheduled to return to Earth on September 28.

Like the three space tourists before her, she reportedly paid US$20 million ($31 million) for her ticket.

That bought her back pains, headache and motion sickness during the trip into orbit -- as well as some good-natured ribbing from her five male companions on the space station.

"As Mike was saying, I was ironing and cooking up here," Ansari said, referring to American astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria.

But the first view of the Earth from space made it all worthwhile, she said. The food hasn't been bad, either.

"I've tasted Russian food and American food up here, and they're both quite good actually, surprisingly really tasty," she said, citing "chocolate and sweets" as her favourites.

Ansari is chairman and co-founder of Prodea Systems Inc., which makes equipment to manage home communications networks. Her family sponsored the US$10 million Ansari X-Prize, awarded in 2004, to encourage private companies to develop manned spacecraft.

Ansari's colleagues on the space station are Jeff Williams and Lopez-Alegria from the United States, Pavel Vinogradov and Mikhail Tyurin of Russia, and Thomas Reiter of Germany.

Williams, who has been at the space station since July, said he looked forward to breathing fresh air and enjoying peace and quiet when he returns to Earth later this month.

"I'll be looking forward to the things that we normally take for granted. One of them will be quiet, complete quiet, not having fans continually blowing, pumps going continually," he said.

- REUTERS