Iranian-American to Be Space Test Subject

The European Space Agency says Iranian-American Anousheh Ansari will act as an experimental test subject while aboard the International Space Station.

Ansari, NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin are scheduled are to lift off Monday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Paris-based ESA said the experiments in which entrepreneur Ansari will participate are designed to investigate the reaction of the human organism to the space environment, the ultimate objective being to optimize the conditions for human permanence in space, and to cast light on common diseases affecting people on Earth.

During space flights, crew members are constantly exposed to different types of radiation. Radiation damages the cellular DNA, and may induce mutations, which could be associated with an enhanced risk of developing cancer.

Ansari, among other things, will act as a radiation test subject, providing blood samples before and after her flight, the ESA said.