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Alexei Krasnov, in charge of manned space flights, was quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency as saying, "We have signed a preliminary contract with (Anoushe) Ansari under which she is training as a back-up for Japanese space tourist Daisuke Enomoto".
Ansari, the 38-year-old head of Telecom Technologies in the United States, left Iran when she was 17.