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Safe landing for first female space tourist

29/09/2006

The first female space tourist has returned to Earth following her trip to the International Space Station (ISS).

Anousheh Ansari spent eight days orbiting the Earth in the ISS after flying there in a Russian spacecraft.

Her Soyuz TMA 8 undocked from the ISS yesterday evening and, after a journey of four hours and 19 minutes, landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan about 50 miles north of Arkalyk at 02:13 BST this morning.

Ms Ansari paid an estimated $20 million (£10.7 billion) for the privilege of enjoying the experience of space travel.

She received a bouquet of roses and a kiss from her husband following her disembarkation from the Soyuz rocket.

Describing her experience as the "ride of a lifetime", she said her time in space had been "magnificent".

Ms Ansari, an Iranian-born businesswoman who runs a telecoms company in Texas, follows in the footsteps of three previous space tourists who have flown with space tourism firm Space Adventures, including Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth and Greg Olsen.

"The crew will spend several weeks in Star City, near Moscow, for debriefing and medical examinations," Nasa said in its latest ISS status report.

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