First Female Space Tourist Ready To Go

This story was written by CBS News Moscow bureau chief Beth Knobel.

Iranian-American businesswoman Anousheh Ansari will become the fourth person and the first woman to become a space tourist. She's completing her preparation at the Cosmonaut Training Center outside Moscow, preparing for a Sept. 14 launch.

Is she nervous?

"A little," she admitted before a training session in her Russian spacesuit. "I'm very, very excited and happy."

The 38 year-old engineer, who made a fortune in telecommunications, is spending more than $20 million for her 10-day trip to the International Space Station. She will accompany a new U.S.-Russian crew to the station, then return with the crew that's already spent six months on the station.

She'll travel on the highly reliable Russian Soyuz rocket.

Not only will Ansari be the first female space tourist, she'll also be the first Iranian in space. Growing up in Tehran, she dreamed of becoming an astronaut. But she only got her chance after she emigrated to the United States.

"I was born in Iran, and I have sentimental attachment to that country," Ansari says. "But if it wasn't for all the opportunities and education I received in the United States, I wouldn't be here today." Ansari, who emigrated to America when she was 14, was educated at George Mason University in Virginia and George Washington University in Washington.

She's acknowledging her roots by wearing two flag patches on the sleeves of her flight suit — one American, one Iranian.

Ansari has already encouraged space tourism by helping to endow the so-called "X Prize," which was a $10 million award aimed at encouraging the development of a privately built, reusable spaceship. Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne won the prize in October 2004.

Ansari is now part of a large team that is working on the development of a new kind of spacecraft that would be used to open up space tourism to greater numbers of people by making it more affordable.

"When I started training here, one of my goals was learn what it takes for regular civilians who are not trained as professional astronauts and cosmonauts to go to space," she said."

Ansari's husband, Hamid, says his wife hopes to bring lessons from her trip to the development of widespread commercial space travel.

"She really wanted to get a firsthand experience, as we're going to sort of pioneer this industry…what it takes," said Hamid Ansari, who was in Moscow to observe his wife's training. "And there's nothing like firsthand experience."

American businessmen Dennis Tito and Gregory Olsen and South African mogul Mark Shuttleworth have previously been paid passengers on the trip to the International Space Station. The Russians began taking tourists to the station in 2001 as a way to raise money for their chronically underfunded space program.

Anousheh Ansari has been training for months, but found out only this week that she would be on the next mission. A Japanese entrepreneur had been scheduled to make the trip in September, but he was bumped from the trip after he reportedly failed a medical test.

Ansari's journey will help pave the way for men — and women — to follow their dreams all the way to the stars.

Does she feel like she's becoming a role model for other women?

"Absolutely," said her husband. "To a great extent, especially for the next generation, for the younger generation, to be able to show them that there are no limitations — and that if you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything that you want."