Our best Wishes to Smart Woman from Earth, on mission to Space.
Ms. Ansari should be given a Universal Address.
We wish her all the luck, and Safe return to Earth

We all belong to Human Race, and we respect all religions. Let People pray the way they like to.
There is One God in this Universe, who us all.
I am from near Chicago,Illnois.
However, I am writing this Email from Maryland.
I shall be in Maryland till Sept. 30th. to wait for Ansari's return.
We wish all the Best to Ms Ansari. Good role model to Women in the world. Safe journey to back to earth.
N D Kewal Ramani

James B and Tresa,
No way will humans ever "leave behind" religion when we move out into space.  Quite the opposite.  Falling through the void of emptiness, perhaps finding new life forms, and looking back on our blue marble world, people will find ever increasing need to "connect" sprirtually with each other and with the greater power, God...  Or the Big Bang...  Or whatever you believe is the greater power in the universe.  Because I can guarantee you it ain't us!  Humans have NEVER lived without religion, they won't start now.  Just ask the girl when she becomes stuck in the airlock without her glove while she hears the air slowly hissing into cold space who she his praying to.  It ain't her grandmother.  

She may have an Iranian heritage, but she's 100% American. She's a shining example of this country's promise and opportunity

i cannot believe what i am reading. the main subject we are addressing here is "religion and space". the world has been and always will be at war over those two exact things!!! we fight each other because we pray to different Gods. we fight each other over land (space). these things will never change. since the beginning of time all tribes(teams)have been fighting for one reason or the other. everyone has to pick a side and once you are on that side you will fight to the death to defend it. humans are the most evil and selfish things on this planet or in space. there will come a time when all countries will have access to space and the moon. when that time comes there will be a war over who gets what. even if it is in space. it is nice to see all this optimism about an iranian born muslim woman who is a united states citizen in space. so what? she paid 20 million for it. some of the male russian astronauts are muslims. when they go to space you never hear about it. there have been plenty of women in space as well. there was no big deal made of those women so why this one? because she is from iran and most likely a muslim. why does it matter? it matters because we are all writing this to give our opinion. thats all they are is opinions. we are all writing to stand up for our "team" and it is clear that from reading all of the previous we are unbelievably and unfortunately very divided about this woman in space just as we are on earth. there is nothing good that can come from this. if anything, it is going to cause even more debates and arguments over this, that and the other. i kind of feel sorry for her. when she gets back she is going to get so much praise from one group and so much disgust from another. its human nature people. like it or not but we are a world that is and will always be clearly divided even over petty issues like this. she will have some nice pictures to show and a couple stories to tell but after that she's 20 million in the hole and nothing is going to change. wake up world. we are on different "teams" and we will fight until there is a winner. end of story!

To Larry Wilson:) Is it about winning and loosing? Are you praising the Jungle law? Taking the banner of "don't even try guys, nothing is going to change" and the 20million$ blablabla?? Well, let us believe that things Can change and improve, let us be optimistic and generous to others. If this is not "logical", neo-Vulcans find more beauty in it, and that' s enough reason for them.

to Homerya from Teheran: to answer your question about winning and losing (not loosing)... of course it is. do you want to lose? of course not. no one does. why do you think there is and always has been the need for every country to gain access to more knowledge, money, education, scientific breakthrough, etc. it is because every country, person, religion, "team" wants to get the edge on the others in the world. to have that upper hand so to speak. and no, i want everyone to try to be better and discover new thoughts and ideas to improve themselves, countries, religions and humankind. i do want change in the world especially peace. to ask you a very simple question, in your heart do you ever see total world peace and all religions getting along and being tolerant of one another? i thought not. and the 20 million dollar answer. you mentioned being generous to others. is that what she did? she could have made a lot more change for the good on earth with 20 million dollars than sending herself selfishly to space. it was a selfish act on her part. she has no business taking a "vacation" in space. she wasted many peoples time, hours and money so they could train her on what to do so she wouldn't make a mistake and put the whole crews lives in danger on such a serious and incredibly dangerous mission. you want change? you want improvement and advancement? then don't let someone who knows nothing about spaceflight and space research take up a spot when an experienced astronaut could have went instead. another astronaut on that trip and they could have came back with much more critical and meaningful information that is detrimental to all! it was wasted money, wasted time, and probably a publicity stunt by her, someone, some company (probably her own) or some country.... maybe Iran? i can think of several reasons why they (Iran) might do this. i suppose your comment about neo-vulcans has to do with star trek??? you lost me on that one because i have never watched one episode of that FICTION bla-bla-bla. that show is not real to all you trekkies out there.... this whole subject has absolutely nothing to do with fictional charachters and fictional philosophies in a fictional television show!!!! i am a realist and would not consider myself as a pessimist or optimist. i base my opinions and beliefs on what actually happens and has happened here on earth. maybe some of you people should quit basing your views on life and the world on a fictional TV series.

To Larry Wilson. Just because you corrected Homeyra's typo or spelling mistake, I felt I should point out that, your post has one very obvious grammatical mistake, "could have went instead". Could have gone instead, sounds better. So, now that we have grammar and spelling out of the way, I must say that I find your resentment to Ansari's holiday in space a little bewildering. She paid for the hours that the NASA staff spent training her, she paid for her place on the spaceship and NASA made 20 million dollars. Where is the problem? I fail to see what reason the Iranian government would have to send a woman to space. Can you elaborate please? Ansari is a wealthy woman who paid to realise her dream. As far as giving money to charity, do you have proof that she doesn't already do that? Certain members of the human race make sure that their donations are well-publicised, i.e. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, and others prefer to donate quietly. I don't think this was a publicity stunt for her company either. From what I understand she sold it recently for half a billion dollars but don't quote me on that one:) I think that to have peace on earth people have to educate themselves enough, to understand what is going on in this world. Study history, understand different cultures, understand why we are where we are, right now. And to work our way towards peace on earth, let us pray that GWB can avoid further cataclysmic disasters.

Mr. Larry Wilson I agree with most of your post: It is "losing" and not "loosing", though you often lose for being too loose. Losing and winning…. Is it "the last maybe the first" or "the first may be the last"? Or is it "he that loseth… shall find it"? So much for winning and losing, after all the blog title Is Religion and space. Access to more knowledge, money, education etc. is a drive for humanity, and when you get there to have the upper hand as you say, you better have a good idea of what you want to do with it. There was a literary contest a few years ago, the theme was: Going fast, but Where? We have a common ground when you talk about your desire for improvement.. I don't have to "see" a total world peace in my heart to aspire to it. That's the challenge, because I don't "see" myself as the perfect human being in any future, and if I get there or not –most probably not- why should it make me look in another direction? I don't think this $20million (blablabla:)) is what is missing to save humanity, there are numbers with 3 more digits spent on drug traffic, arms deals or many useless other things. Reading news superficially, I understand that someone would see it the way you do. From what I read about Ansari she has earned much more than this amount. Like many others, where she spends her money or how, we will never know. Here she is exposing herself to world criticism or praise for her actions. I am far from a Space nut and I would refer you to her website which explains her reasons for making the decision to fly to space. What was exciting for me in Ansari's adventure is that out of nowhere we learn about a person who is generating a lot of enthusiasm. It was an occasion (for me) to follow all the event through the internet, Nasa TV etc. to see the amazing technology which made all that possible, and Ansari's presence made it easier to relate to it. The following thoughts come to mind: how come among hundreds of TV channels, millions of CD's video's etc which are available these days, watching something in real time, on my slow internet connexion is much more interesting and thrilling? Why – with all the smart people all over the world – can they not make a similar coverage of some philanthropic action somewhere, anywhere, with ordinary people participating in the way they did in Anousheh's blog. Many ongoing projects (about the empowerment of the less fortunate) are implemented through the world. If some heartfelt coverage of such actions is made available the way that space travel is represented, many people would be more than willing to contribute. If you talk with some successful NGO's, you will learn that money is not their main problem, they can get it from various sources, many millionaires around these days:) What they need is the human resource and interest to follow up, that everyday presence, an amount of small little actions, in other words, more Mother Theresas. The fact that an Immigrant to the USA has made her dreams possible in such a spectacular way, triggers many other questions about all that is possible to do in a life-time regardless of your background. About us "trekkies":)I just meant to be playful with notions that I thought might be a common reference. You lose that one to me: our own insights are developed through some fictional creations – poetry, art – to enrich our sense of realism. Your comments about "putting the crews' life in danger" are way out of line: the mission would have been carried out with or without her. Instead of doing it all with tax-payers money, she financed part of it. And last, if you are really interested in Iran's position, I would happily refer you to some articles printed in your own country to show you a more complex side of it. Anyway, I am sure you have more important things to do, but in order to make such strong statements, a better knowledge of the facts is recommended. Sincerely Homeyra of Teheran

This is getting very interesting. Before I make this comment I did a bit of homework to find out where Mrs.Ansari has stated her religion. Well, I found nothing. Actually people call her a Muslim only because she was born in Iran. People, what’s wrong with you. These days it’s becoming like a new life style for us to stick a patch to a nation or country based on nonsense reasons. Come on. Don’t judge a book by the cover. She did this to make her dreams come true. Give me a break. What has science to do with religion? I just don’t get it. She is an Iranian-American. Just like other space capsule crew members, she had the right to wear her flags. Her mother-land colors and her adopted country’s flag. Let me tell a very short story about the colors that were about to be removed from her space suit. Green, White and Red are the colors of a nation: Iranian people, not their religion whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Zoroastrian, nor the sign of governing terrorist regime who are torturing the people of Iran. These colors are old enough to be recognized as a symbol for all Iranians regardless of their religion. She wear’s the flag with out Islamic regime’s sign inside it to give hope to her fellow Iranians standing against Ayatollah’s not to promote the fanatic manners of a regime. You can refer to this page, if you wish, for more info about Iranian flag: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_flag As you see this flag does not carry any sign of religion except for some relations to a 2500 years old belief. And here is the devil sign which was added to flag right after 1979 revolt and you won’t see it on Ansari’s mission patch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Iran

Here's an article in which Anousheh Ansari is quoted as calling herself a "liberal Muslim":

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/
news/20060901/a_spacetourist01.art.htm

Alan, If by any chance you visited a Muslim person please ask them how do they define a "liberal Muslim". Just think about this: why she call herself a LIBERAL muslim not only a muslim? Maybe she is trying to get rid of unwanted patches.

Congratulation Anousheh Ansari, you and your team back to earth safely, where at least you have a chance to ask God to help you when you were entering G force. In Moslem we will say Alhamdulillah. Your trip to the space had turned up with a lot of opinions, whether you are American, Iranian, Moslem first female, or female first tourist, or wealthy female tourist, and so on, but in my opinion you did it for all good things, again Congratulation. But you may have homework to answer the qoestioned by one who gave comment above as follows : I cannot wait until someone asks her which way she faces for prayer. The answer should be enlightening Gregor MacGregor St Augustine FL (Sent Monday, September 18, 2006 7:15 AM)

I agree with the post: "change the title Alan" I am iranian, and you would call me a muslim, I must say I don't care about Anousheh's religion, nor even space, but isn't she just beautiful?

Who cares whether she is a Muslim, a practicing Muslim or other forms of Muslim? I grew up in Iran and live in US for 6 yrs now and puke at all these man made religions. To me spirituality and humanism is what people should care about. Get a life people. Many of you are so ignorant and brain- wahsed that think if you are from Iran,and even if you are 'officially' a Muslim by name then you should be a radical like the bedouin arab Osama Bin laden. It is true that Islam never had a Luther like christians (the only diffenece between the 2 faith in my opinion)leading to all these made up cults of christianity that is NOTHING similar to 15th century christianity and before that, but many officially muslim people (especially in lebanon, Iran and Turkey) are as open-minded and secular (in fact more in my opinion) than your other fellow christians or Jews in the west (and BTW, in case you don't know, muslims know ALL there is to know about Christianity and Judaism, try not to challenge us, because we know more about your faith than you do in most cases). Just get a CLUE and quit watching the biased one dimentional media.And yes, all religions are man-made and were created in Iran (poor zoroaster got high on Mushroom and opium and saw ahura mazda, and hence God and Evil were created,...).

You cannot call Anousheh a Muslim just because she was born in Iran. Islamic religion was forced to us iranians by Arabs. Most of us are born into it but we have no interest in it whatsoever. A religion that's spread by oppression and military attack has absolutely no ligitimacy Banafsheh, Tehran, Iran

I am very proud of her. she has become a source of inspiration to me and i want to pursue my passions too with all my abilities without giving in to detractors

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