Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe MOSCOW, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Iranian-born Anousheh Ansari, the world's first female space tourist after a Russian flight, is offering a $9.1 million prize to encourage moon tourism. The Times of London said Ansari, 40, is hoping the prize will encourage entrepreneurs to develop commercial space flights and so tourists can experience the "unique beauty" of space travel. Advertisement "I am confident that in 20 years' time, private orbital flights will be a reality," she said. "Once a shuttle capable of making the trip to the moon is developed, I want to be one of the first people to fly on it." Ansari left Tehran as a teenager and arrived in the United States knowing no English. However, she managed to make a fortune in telecommunications after earning a degree in electrical engineering. She says she hopes her ambitious flight into space will inspire women, particularly those in her homeland of Iran. She paid the Russians 10 million pounds (almost $19 million) for a round-trip flight to the International Space Station last month.
