Russia's space agency announced Tuesday that US entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari will fly to the international space station next month, becoming the first woman to make a paid voyage to the station, news agencies reported.
On Monday, officials said Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto, who was to blast off for the ISS on Sept. 14, had failed a medical test.
Roskosmos space agency officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ansari, born in Iran, is a co-founder of the Texas-based company Telecom Technologies Inc.
The space flight takes off from Russia's manned launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and includes Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and U.S. astronaut Miguel Lopez-Alegria. Ansari is to return to Earth 10 days later with Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams, who have been aboard the space station since April 1.
