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Anousheh Ansari Visit to the UAE
Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American entrepreneur and the first Muslim woman astronaut, spoke to a group of university students and faculty at Zayed University-Dubai campus on December 27. U.S. Consul General Paul Sutphin introduced the astronaut, highlighting her impressive accomplishments and crediting the open society of the United States of America with providing a wealth of opportunities to immigrants of all backgrounds, color and creed.
Ansari discussed her experience as an astronaut and took questions from the ZU, AUS and AUD students. The theme for the presentation was “Following Your Dreams” and Ansari, wearing her astronaut jumpsuit, gave an informal talk about her life and her experience in space, followed by a short film on her space odyssey. Her primary message to the students was to explore their imagination and seek out ways to realize their dreams. She described her lifelong dream of exploring space, her youth in Iran, her education in the US, and her business career. Turning to the story of her September 18, 2006 trip to space and visit to the International Space Station, she recounted her excitement at being selected to travel to space as the first female space tourist, and the rigorous preparations involved, and explained how she overcame others’ skepticism during the demanding training regimen. Ansari emphasized the importance of using the power of imagination to realize this dream. Quoting Albert Einstein, she noted that “Imagination is even more important than knowledge”, explaining that knowledge alone, without imagining ways to apply the knowledge productively, was not enough to realize one’s dreams. In addition, Ansari advised the largely female audience not to limit or give up on their dreams regardless of whatever skepticism or social limitations they might face. She also explained how seeing earth – without nations and borders – from space gave her a new perspective on the need for all inhabitants of the planet to work together for mutual understanding.