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09/20/2006: "Godspeed Anousheh Ansari"

I've been a fan of the space program for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are of getting up early to watch the first launches on a black and white TV. I guess this long fascination makes me something of a traditionalist when it comes to space flight.

When the Russian space program started flying paying passengers to the International Space Station as a way of raising much-needed cash, I was against it. To me, space was still this sacred place where only those with the right stuff ventured - a place where a visit was earned, not bought. The idea of some dot com millionaire - or, God forbid, a boy band soprano - bouncing off the walls of the ISS went against everything I believed.

Then came the latest in the program - Anousheh Ansari. True, she bought her seat (for a rumored $20 million) and will have no real "duties" on her visit than her three predecessors. But she is different - not only is she blazing trails for people like her, she has a true connection to space. If the name "Ansari" sounds familiar to space buffs, it should - she put up much of the money for the "Ansari X-Prize", the $10 million brass ring that awaited the first commercial space flight. That prize was won a couple of years back by Burt Rutan and the SpaceShipOne team. She has been an active supporter of the commercialization of space, and sees this as simply one more step in the process. And I have to agree with her.

Historically, it was the government who did the exploration, but the entrepreneurs who did the commercialization. When Lewis and Clark were returning from the Oregon Coast after their historic mission of exploration, they ran into entrepreneurs headed west on the same trail to exploit the opportunity. Space is no different. NASA has done its part to open up the frontier, but it will be the Burt Rutans - and the Anousheh Ansaris - of the world who will turn space flight into a practical reality.

Anousheh should arrive at the ISS later today to begin a 10-day stay as part of the normal crew rotation.