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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Dozens of space travel enthusiasts, most of them women, burst into applause at dawn at an observatory near the capital as the spacecraft carrying the first Iranian woman to travel into space appeared in the sky.

Space tourist Anousheh Ansari, who began her journey into space Monday aboard a Soyuz TMA-9 capsule from Baikonur, Kazakhastan, has become an inspiration to women in male-dominated Iran.

Space enthusiasts gathered Saturday at the Zaferanieh Observatory in Tehran were rapt as they followed the progress of the craft, visible to the naked eye for about two minutes, as it streaked across the sky.

"Anousheh is my hope," said teenager Delagah Dadbeh, watching the spacecraft as tears of joy rolled down her cheek.

"She will shine in Iranian history as a woman who broke barriers and succeeded in conquering space with her endeavor," Dadbeh said.

"Ansari has shown Iranian women the road to progress. We only need to believe in ourselves," Dadbeh said, as another woman, Homa Parvaei nodded in agreement.

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Women clapped their hands
in applause as the spacecraft
carrying Anousheh Ansari
appeared over the Iranian sky.


Ansari, the world's first paying
female space tourist, hopes to
inspire girls in her homeland to
study science.