SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468

*Sept. 15, 2006, 11:07PM* Next space tourist seeks understanding in stars As launch nears, Dallas exec wishes for peace between United States and her native Iran

By IRENE KLOTZ Reuters News Service

The spacesuit Anousheh Ansari will wear when she blasts off for a 10-day orbital vacation to the international space station has been stripped of the flag of Iran, her native country.

At the insistence of the Russian and U.S. governments, she has also promised there will be no political messages during her trip, although Ansari is painfully aware of the deep divide between the governments of her adopted U.S. home and the land she left at age 16.

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY SEE:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/space/4191085.html