First female space tourist blasts off (AP)

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan - An Iranian-American telecommunications entrepreneur took off Monday on a Russian rocket bound for the international space station, achieving her dream of becoming the the world's first paying female space tourist. Anousheh Ansari was accompanied by a U.S.-Russian crew on the Soyuz TMA-9 capsule, which entered orbit about 10 minutes after liftoff from the Russian cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Ansari reportedly paid $20 million to become the fourth private astronaut to take a trip ...