ON HER second morning in space, Anousheh Ansari was filled with excitement. She slipped out of her sleeping bag and somersaulted effortlessly through the Soyuz spacecraft. Then it all went horribly wrong.
Her head and back throbbed with pain owing to the effects of weightlessness. Even the slightest movement made her feel sick. The joy of watching Earth spin was replaced with a much stronger emotion. The telecoms entrepreneur, who had paid $20 million to become one of the first space tourists, couldn't wait to get off.
Leaving wasn't an option, of course. Ansari had to tough out the rest of the 50-hour journey rolled up in a sleeping bag with her head pushed against cargo destined for the International Space Station (ISS).
That was back in 2006 when a trip to the ISS took two days and involved 34 laps around Earth. Earlier this year, though, ...
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