[caption id="attachment_154587" align="alignright" width="216"] Anousheh Ansari wins 2015 Space Pioneer Award[/caption]

TEHRAN (ISNA)- An Iranian woman Anousheh Ansari will receive 2015 Space Pioneer Award of the US National Space Society.

The award would be given to Ansari in the upcoming International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Toronto late May.

Anousheh Ansari, born in September 12, 1966, in Mashhad, Iran, is an Iranian engineer and co-founder and chairwoman of Prodea Systems.

Her previous business accomplishments include serving as co-founder and CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI).

On September 18, 2006, a few days after her 40th birthday, she became the first Muslim woman in space.

Ansari was the fourth overall self-funded space tourist, and the first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station.

Ansari has expressed that she does not consider herself a "space tourist", and prefers the title of "spaceflight participant".

Ansari is a member of the X PRIZE Foundation’s Vision Circle, as well as its Board of Trustees. She made a multi-million dollar contribution to the X PRIZE foundation on May 5, 2004.

By ISNA