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My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer

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"Call this a love story" is how this beautifully written memoir begins and it is! Anousheh is a woman who has a great heart which is filled with love for her family and husband, her native Iran and her adopted United States, and her dream of going to the stars. I think readers who don't care a thing about space will enjoy this book because it's not like any book any astronaut has ever written. It's filled with emotion and great descriptive passages. I would say it's more like "A Thousand Splendid Suns" than "The Right Stuff." I think the co-author Homer Hickam might have a little to do with that. I'm a Homer fan and read all he writes. I saw him at a book signing and he said he worked really hard to bring out the heart and soul of Anousheh because what people are really interested in is other people. Bottom line is I enjoyed living Anousheh's life with her. My heart was gladdened and in these times of trouble, what more can we ask of a book? Moms, your daughters will love this story. So will you.

I have been reading books about space since, well, since I learned how to read. Indeed this is how I learned to really read a book - since the books I had to read in school were lame. Nearly half a century later, I have read an unknown number of books that chronicle the life stories of those who have come to be involved with the exploration of space. Every book is different yet every book is the same since the paths that people took were similar and overlapping. Some came from Nazi Germany, others from small towns in America or Russia.

But until now I had not read a story of someone who aspired to touch the stars from the midst of revolution-racked Iran.

Such is the story of Anousheh Raissyan - better known by her married name, Ansari. In describing "My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer" I just want to tell you all that is in it - but that is Anousheh's task - done with the deft guidance of Homer Hickam. Homer first gained notoriety as the author of "Rocket Boys" - which also chronicled an improbable journey from a poor coal mining town in West Virginia to a long career at NASA. A better guide Anousheh could not have found.

The story Anousheh tells begins in an Iran that was still ruled by the Shah. All too soon the fires of revolution swept up the entire nation - not just the young men, but old people and little girls. Yet through out this tumultuous and very dangerous time, Anousheh managed to find solace albeit fleeting by looking up at the stars at night and visiting them in her mind.

As I turned the pages of this book I was reminded of a time in my life when these same events in Iran affected me. I was in graduate school in the early 1980s and had an office mate who I will simply refer to as "Reza". Reza came from a wealthy family in Teheran and was studying to be a doctor when the revolution exploded. He was caught outside the country and unable to return. With no access to families assistance he as stranded in a foreign country unable to get home.

I often hired Reza to work with me as a house painter. He was happy for the work and worked his butt off. I saw something in Reza that comes through clearly in this book through Anousheh's words: an unflinching determination to not let life's current troubles get in the way realizing a dream. The more dire the circumstances, it seems the more pronounced her will to push through and surmount adversity.

Eventually, Anousheh and parts of her family made their way to America. Unlike many newcomers she did not isolate herself from the cacaphony of opportunity that is America. Rather, she dived right in. Meeting her husband, she and others soon accomplished the quintessential American dream when their start-up made them millionaires.

Throughout it all, that dream of stars would not go away. Augmented with what Elon Musk often refers to as "non-trvial resources" Anousheh went from dreaming about stars to thinking about actually visiting them. Eventually she acted on her dream and found herself training as a backup for another commercial space traveller in Russia. An unexpected medical disqualification with the prime passenger and suddenly she was mere weeks away for a trip into space.

These days when you make one of these trips, you have to do something with the nortoriety. Everyone who does this finds a different way to do it. In Anousheh's case, she was suc an improbable space traveller that there was intrinsic interest that really did not need to be generated - just channeled.

During her flight she sent updates from space that were posted in a blog. The claim from her PR flaks being made was that she was the "first blogger in space". Well, I got into nit picking and jumped on that since she was emailing from space - not blogging. But over the days as her mission proceeded I saw some startling things in the comments that appeared on her site. Many were in Farsi but many were in passable English. The sentiments came through loud and clear.

For this instant in time she was pulling her fellow Iranians out of their own daily troubles and bringing them up into space with her. As improbable as her own life story was up to this point it now worked like a magnet on others like her back on Earth. Eventually, I felt compelled to write a retraction of sorts - you can read it <a href=" [...] on her blog.

Professional astronauts are chosen for their ability to fly the rockets and make all the fancy gear work. They are not chosen for their ability to experience or express themsleves. There is nothing in their daily work schedule wherein they are supposed to be awed. Anousheh had all of her time in orbit to do this.

In the case of Anousheh and others who bought their own ticket into space, there was already something ticking in their heads that had made them wealthy but also yearning to do something as unusual such as ride into space. Up until now all of the passengers had all been middle-aged male businessmen.

As such, Anousheh had a unqiue perspective. Reading some of her descriptions of life in space, you get the impression that she may be the first person to notice and then write about many fundamental aspects of space travel. One passage in particular grabbed me by both shoulders when I first read it - and yes, brought a tear to mey eye since I could easily imagine myself in an identical moment. In this case it was shortly after she had reached orbit:

"Throwing off my belts I was able to take a look through the tiny porthole of the capsule and saw the Earth from space for the first time. My laughter stopped as tears welled up in my eyes. I saw a small crystal float away from me. It was beautiful, a pretty little diamond. I wondered where it came from, if perhaps some worker had lost the setting from her ring. Then I realized it was one of my tears. It seemed to be attracted to the Earth. It touched the glass in the porthole and became for just a moment the tiniest of rainbows. I could not catch my breath. My beautiful planet, under the warm rays of the sun, turned gracefully beneath me I was entranced."

I go there - to that moment - when I read these words.

"My Dream of Stars" is an astonishing and almost improbable but very human journey from war torn Iran to outer space. In reading this book you get the impression that if Anousheh can do something like this then anyone can.

The world is changing. Inevitably, life in space will change too. Some day soon, it will no longer be the sole province of practitioners of the "Right Stuff" from a small group of rich nations. Anousheh was the one of the very first people to see this change with her own eyes - and to redefine who gets to to go - and why. I have no doubt that she will continue to be a force for change back on Earth.

This is her story.

Keith Cowing, editor [..]

One of the reoccurring stories told in American history is that of the young immigrant, arriving to our shores all but penniless, but then acquiring great wealth through hard work, intellect, and a little bit of luck.

It was the sort of story that used to be told to young people as a means of educating them in American exceptionalism, and is thus not very much imparted any more. But that doesn't mean that the penniless immigrant who
arrives in America and becomes wealthy no longer exists. Anousheh Ansari is living proof of that.

Anousheh Ansari, whose first name means "Immortal" or "Eternal", was born in Mashad, Iran, during the reign of the last Shah. Her childhood is described in her memoirs is almost idyllic, perhaps typical of a moderate, middle class family in Iran of that era. But Anousheh Ansari was special in the fact that she had enormous dreams, dreams, as the title of her memoir suggests, of stars.

I've been a big Homer Hickam fan ever since "Rocket Boys" was first released. Although I am about a decade younger, our stories paralleled each other in so many ways! I was also enthralled by the early days of the Space Age, and wanted to be an astronaut or rocket scientist - or both. And I too collaborated with my neighborhood friends on homemade rockets (although we never got ours above 3,000 ft. or so). And now I find that Anousheh Ansari's experiences while coming of age mirror my own as well. I was a freshman in high school when "Star Trek" premiered on network TV. I was an instant devotee - though unlike Anousheh, I admittedly admired the ever-resourceful Capt. Kirk more than that somewhat strange and offbeat intellectual Mr. Spock!
Like Homer - and unlike Anousheh - I never actually made it into space. But I ended up becoming a science teacher, which isn't too bad, either. In fact, I'm now teaching chemistry and physics, the same subjects that Miss Riley taught Homer and the rest of the Rocket Boys! I loved this book for the same reasons as "Rocket Boys" - it described exactly how I also felt about space exploration while I was growing up. (As Homer put it, "like the science fiction I had read all my life was coming true".)
I'm really hoping that "My Dream of Stars" becomes the basis of a movie, like "Rocket Boys" did with the release of "October Sky". If so, I'd certainly enjoy showing the DVD to my students, probably in March to help motivate them before their statewide science exams (as my school did with "October Sky" this year). Needless to say, I will be recommending this book to my students, especially to the girls in our engineering program!

As a "space cadet", I thoroughly loved this book on many levels. It is a romance novel between Anousheh and her husband as well as the romance that Anousheh has with space. It is an insight into her Iranian background as well as a commentary on where hard work can get you in the USA. I highly recommend it to anyone. I would also like to see Homer Hickham collaborate with other famous space figures to do similar books so that their stories can be shared, too.

Anousheh Ansari's book, "My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer" tells a very human and family story worthy of readership by those interested in either human passion or space flight. It is an excellent premier for any person who has had a dream of success or even imagined flying aboard the International Space Station. I enjoyed the story it told of Anousheh and Hamid. I have had the good fortune and honor of meeting them both in New Mexico; and, Anousheh again in Arlington, VA. at a FAA/AST conference.

It is my judgment, however, that the best Anousheh Ansari book is yet to be written - that entitled "Anousheh Ansari: The Space Entrepreneur." One of my more favorite passages of "My Dreams of Stars" is about a series of conversations between Anousheh and astronaut Thomas Reiter about the role of government and the commercial space launch sector in the future of human space travel. It is a story still being written at the White House, on Capitol Hill, at Cape Canaveral, at Wallops Island, in the Mojave Desert, or some struggling private space propulsion research laboratory.

Anousheh Ansari should be ecouraged to do yet another new book. A new book by her should be focused outreach to business entrepreneurs in the United States and around the world --- an idea she started with the Ansari X-Prize. She has the proven business acumen to tell such a story with the proven "Keys to Success" of a Space Entrepreneur.

"My Dreams of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer" is but an opening chapter in the real story now unfolding. Anousheh Ansari is in a unique position to be the ultimate Space Entrepreneur Advocate and New Space business implementer.

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I recommend this book. The author gives a detailed account of what she had to go through to qualify to go into space and of the training required to go to the space station. Although she was a "paying visitor" not an astronaut she could not just hop aboard and be off!
I especially loved her description of living in space and her excitement about the whole experience.
Her journey from her beginnings in Iran to space is truely inspiring.

She is from Persia where I come from and I'm PROUD of her. Actually recently my champ. Brother Ehsan has translated it into Farsi our mother language and book has ROCKED the market!

I have lots of fun during reading this book, just putting myself in her shoes gave me goosebumps all the time. Anousheh shares quite a story in this book which is hard to find anywhere else, a unique experience which is told with lots of passion and details.
loved it.

From a land that did not expect anything of her, she became the first Iranian woman in space. "My Dream of Stars: From Daughter of Iran to Space Pioneer" is a biographical memoir from Anousheh Ansari, as she tells her life story from growing up in the chaos of Iran during its revolutions, to how she found her way to American soil, making her American dream come true, and so much more. She is not only an astronaut, but also a successful businesswoman. "My Dream of Stars" is a choice pick for readers seeking a truly inspirational story.