On September 18, 2006, Anousheh Ansari captured headlines around the world as the first female private space explorer. She also earned a place in history as the fourth private explorer to visit space and the first astronaut of Iranian descent. She blasted off for an eight-day expedition aboard the International Space Station as part of the Expedition 14 crew of the Soyuz TMA-9.

While in space, Anousheh wrote a blog that invited readers to share her experience.The blog captured international attention. Her personal web site and her blog site garnered more than 50 million hits from readers around the world.Back on Earth, as a successful serial entrepreneur, Anousheh returned to her job as co-founder and chairman of her latest technology company. Prodea Systems, a company that will dramatically alter the nature of the in-home technology experience.

We interviewed Anousheh during our Asteroid Day 2015 event in San Francisco. We discussed private space exploration, planetary defence and her experience of becoming a space explorer.

Watch it here:

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Asteroid Day, June 30th 2015
California Academy of Sciences
San Francisco, California