Keeping up with office work while in space

TALK about telecommuting: space tourist Anousheh Ansari said yesterday she's staying on top of things at the office even as she orbits the Earth on the International Space Station.

"I'm keeping up-to-date with what's going on in our office and the progress everyone's making, so they're sending me status reports," the 40-year-old Iranian-American telecommunications entrepreneur said.

"It's wonderful, the technology up here, it's like I've never left the Earth and like I'm sitting in my office."

Ms Ansari arrived at the space station by Soyuz spacecraft on Wednesday, becoming the first female tourist, the first female Muslim and the first Iranian in orbit. She is scheduled to return to Earth on 28 September.

Like the three space tourists before her, she reportedly paid just over 10 million for her ticket.

That bought her back pains, headache and motion sickness - as well as some banter from her five male companions.

"As Mike was saying, I was ironing and cooking up here," Ms Ansari said, referring to the US astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria.

But the first view of the Earth from space made it all worthwhile, she said.

Ms Ansari is chairman and co-founder of Prodea Systems Inc, which makes equipment to manage home communications networks.

Her family sponsored the 5 million Ansari X-Prize, awarded in 2004, to encourage private companies to develop manned spacecraft.