ROMPIN, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's first astronaut, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha who is scheduled to return to earth on Sunday will be commissioned as a cosmonaut along with Kapt Dr Faiz Khaleed, said Science, Technology and Innovations Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis.
The commissioning ceremony would take place in Russia two weeks after Dr Sheikh Muszaphar's return as he has to be quarantined for one week after touchdown on Earth, he said.
Jamaludin hoped with the recognition, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar's credibility as an astronaut would no longer be questioned as certain quarters regarded him as merely a space flight tourist.
Speaking to reporters at an Aidilfitri open house hosted by him here last night, he said that his ministry would also collaborate with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) on astronaut and space science training to avoid such issues from arising (status of Malaysians going to space).
Jamaludin said that he would be holding discussions with Nasa next month for permission to have Dr Faiz join the agency's training programmes.
Nasa, which also assisted in the training for Dr Sheikh Muszaphar for the trip, is helping Malaysia obtain live television feeds of Dr Sheikh Muszaphar at the International Space Station (ISS).
Jamaludin said the national space programme had made a major impact in the country as it had generated a "space fever" among the people, especially the younger generation.
He said the programme could set a paradigm shift among them to love mathematics and science and that the ministry hoped to get Cabinet approval to create a Space Division to develop more space programmes for the country.
He had in mind Dr Sheikh Muszaphar, Dr Faiz as well as National Space Programme director Kol Dr Zulkeffeli Mat Jusoh to drive it.
"But we have to discuss with them and their employers first," he added.
-- BERNAMA
Friday, October 19, 2007
Interesting Experiment By Malaysian Astronaut
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's first astronaut, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha today conducted five experiments in microgravity condition at the International Space Station (ISS).
The first was the spinning of the Malaysian traditional game gasing (top), where he attached a string to a 95 gramme top made of aluminium and let it spin in mid air in horizontal and vertical position for less than a minute.
In the second experiment, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar pressed a ration bag which contained strawberry juice which within seconds came out in a jelly-like substance floating in mid air.
He later took a spoon to pick the floating jelly and put it into his mouth.
The third experiment involved the mixing of oil and water in a square shaped crystal box where in the microgravity condition the oil and water mixed well. In normal situation oil floats on top of water.
In his fourth experiment Dr Sheikh Muszaphar showed the audience on earth how a yoyo would swing in microgravity condition.
In a normal situation, a yoyo goes up and down when in play but in a microgravity condition, the yoyo goes up, down and to the front as well.
In his last experiment, he showed the difference in the speed of three balls of different sizes, travelling in microgravity condition.
The movement of the balls was like in a slow-motion movement.
The live video conference about microgravity with Malaysian astronaut was telecast live by Astro and also watched by students brought specially to the National Science Centre here which was also attended by Deputy Education Minister Datuk Noh Omar and Deputy Science, Technology and Innovations Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha.
During the 10-minute experiment, Sheikh Muszaphar wore a short-sleeved batik shirt. The Jalur Gemilang was hanging on the background. Kong also asked Dr Sheikh Muszaphar what was his biggest challenge at the ISS.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar replied that his biggest challenge was to sleep in the same place like on earth.
He said he slept in one place and found himself on the next day waking up in a different place, adding that he had to strap himself to the bed in order not to float to another place.
Saying that he was doing well, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar also advised the students to study hard and show keen interest in science subjects.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters, Noh said the ministry would look into the possibility of introducing new subjects related to microgravity and space science.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar is scheduled to return to Earth on Oct 21 with two Russians astronauts, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov.
The Soyuz TMA-11, which brought Dr Sheikh Muszaphar to the ISS with two other crew members, blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 10.
--BERNAMA
The first was the spinning of the Malaysian traditional game gasing (top), where he attached a string to a 95 gramme top made of aluminium and let it spin in mid air in horizontal and vertical position for less than a minute.
In the second experiment, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar pressed a ration bag which contained strawberry juice which within seconds came out in a jelly-like substance floating in mid air.
He later took a spoon to pick the floating jelly and put it into his mouth.
The third experiment involved the mixing of oil and water in a square shaped crystal box where in the microgravity condition the oil and water mixed well. In normal situation oil floats on top of water.
In his fourth experiment Dr Sheikh Muszaphar showed the audience on earth how a yoyo would swing in microgravity condition.
In a normal situation, a yoyo goes up and down when in play but in a microgravity condition, the yoyo goes up, down and to the front as well.
In his last experiment, he showed the difference in the speed of three balls of different sizes, travelling in microgravity condition.
The movement of the balls was like in a slow-motion movement.
The live video conference about microgravity with Malaysian astronaut was telecast live by Astro and also watched by students brought specially to the National Science Centre here which was also attended by Deputy Education Minister Datuk Noh Omar and Deputy Science, Technology and Innovations Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha.
During the 10-minute experiment, Sheikh Muszaphar wore a short-sleeved batik shirt. The Jalur Gemilang was hanging on the background. Kong also asked Dr Sheikh Muszaphar what was his biggest challenge at the ISS.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar replied that his biggest challenge was to sleep in the same place like on earth.
He said he slept in one place and found himself on the next day waking up in a different place, adding that he had to strap himself to the bed in order not to float to another place.
Saying that he was doing well, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar also advised the students to study hard and show keen interest in science subjects.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters, Noh said the ministry would look into the possibility of introducing new subjects related to microgravity and space science.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar is scheduled to return to Earth on Oct 21 with two Russians astronauts, Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov.
The Soyuz TMA-11, which brought Dr Sheikh Muszaphar to the ISS with two other crew members, blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 10.
--BERNAMA
Thursday, October 18, 2007
REHMAN RASHID: Saving space for the right stuff
Image: Gagarin (left), the first ... and Muszaphar, the 458th
TOM Wolfe used the phrase “the right stuff” to describe what it took to be an astronaut.
The seven individuals selected for the United States’ Mercury programme in 1959 were all experienced aviators with exemplary backgrounds, academic records and service careers. All were paragons of physical fitness and moral rectitude. And all could transfer their cool heads and steely nerves to proper conduct before the world media.
Indeed, that was the point of their existence: not just to boldly go where no one had gone before, but for the world to watch them going. America’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo were not so much about “landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth", as John F. Kennedy pledged in 1961, but to beat the Russians to it.
Not that the Russians had designs on the Moon. Their interests lay in Earth orbit. Sputnik’s pioneering flight 50 years ago this month had opened the heavens above America to Russian hardware. Just a dozen years after the end of World War Two, a basketball-sized satellite traversing the continental United States 223km overhead had boosted the Cold War to its final frontier.
When Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space in 1961, the die was cast. The US girded its collective loins for one mighty thrust. The first seven American astronauts were selected, based on whatever criteria combined to give each of them the Right Stuff.
They would become among the most famous individuals of their time; their subsequent successes (and failures) the stuff of modern legend.
In those turbulent times, America’s space programme provided spectacular diversions from its conflicts in East Asia and the tensions of the Cold War. The space race offered accomplishment and high drama, culminating in Neil Armstrong’s first words from the lunar surface on July 20, 1969: “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” (Doomed by momentary transmission drop-out to forever contain those square brackets.)
No such glitch marred Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor’s paraphrasing of Armstrong’s words on behalf of Malaysians last week. In the circumstances, it was as good a line as any and better than most. Our Sheikh was probably right to stick to the tried-and-tested on this momentous occasion. The Right Stuff does not generally include a tongue for poetry. (Space Shuttle astronaut Bruce McCandless, who in 1984 became the first to fly untethered in space, uttered for posterity: “Hey, this is neat!")
By the time of McCandless’ neat feat, though, the deification of space travellers was past. Space travel was no longer for daring heroes but technocrats and professionals. The focus was on the much more utilitarian expansion of human industry to Earth orbit.
The richest irony of mankind’s history in space, however, is that the Mercury and Vostok spacemen were not the first to fly there. That distinction went to Robert White and Joe Walker. Never world-famous, they were among the test pilots of the US Air Force’s experimental X-15 rocket plane programme.
Both men flew the X-15 above the 100km “Karman Line", accepted as the boundary of space. They achieved this in total secrecy, as befit such endeavours at the height of the Cold War.
What truly set the X-15 pilots apart was that they actually piloted their aircraft to space and back.
While all the attention was on Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, test pilots at the edge of space above USAF bases in the remote deserts of Nevada and New Mexico were pointing their aircraft’s needle noses straight up and firing liquid-oxygen rocket engines to break free of gravity and punch out of Earth’s atmosphere into the black void beyond, then turn around for re-entry and the long glide home.
The X-15 — not the massive rockets of the American and Russian space efforts — was the true precursor to the Space Shuttle.
Once safely back on the ground, the X-15 pilots would go off to write up detailed flight reports and later share beers and cheers with peers out among the Joshua trees and tumbleweed in the middle of nowhere; unknown, unsung, uncelebrated — and completely uncaring of that. No ticker-tape parades. No live telecasts. No presidential handshakes. No problem.
Passed over for the honour of becoming the first astronauts in favour of those whose Right Stuff included being mediagenic, the X-15 pilots grumbled a little about how astronauts didn’t actually do anything: the rockets shot them up, telemetry controlled their capsules and parachutes brought them back.
There was nothing to it; the first higher life-form in space had been a Russian dog named Laika. A chimpanzee could have done it. Sending humans up had been a PR decision. This rankled with the Mercury Seven so badly, by the time of John Glenn’s first orbital flight in 1962, they’d insisted on having some pilot control designed into their capsules.
All the way to the lunar missions of Apollos 11 through 17, much was made of the astronauts actually flying their lunar modules in the final descent to the Moon’s surface. It was the pride of pilots; the egos had landed.
Such is the myth and mystique of space exploration. Dr Sheikh Muszaphar, the 458th human in space, is an orthopaedist, not a Sukhoi pilot. He inherits the legacy of the Mercury Seven, not the X-15. And as it was for the Mercury Seven, his real mission will begin upon his safe arrival back on terra firma.
The celebrity that awaits him will be overwhelming. The demands on his time and person will be relentless. His transition from male model to role model will be complete. He will be a one-man institution; perhaps even an industry.
He’d better have the right staff.
Malaysian Astronaut Prepares For Return To Earth
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (Bernama) -- Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha, the first Malaysian to go to space, is making preparations for his return to earth on Sunday from the orbiting International Space Station (ISS).
He will return with Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov in the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft which the two Russian cosmonauts had used to go to the ISS in April on Expedition 15.
National Angkasawan Programme Director Col Dr Zulkeffeli Mat Jusoh said the spacecraft carrying the three astronauts was expected to land in the Arkylk region of Kazakhstan, some 1,500km from Moscow.
For the return journey, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor has to ensure that his weight is 82kg, just as it was when he left for the ISS on Oct 10 aboard the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft which is now docked at the ISS.
"If his weight has exceeded the 82kg while in the ISS, he will be required to reduce his weight through exercise in a special cubicle in the ISS. This is to maintain equilibrium in the Soyuz spacecraft the three astronauts will be returning to earth in," he told Bernama when contacted in Moscow today.
Dr Zulkeffeli said he would leave for Qostanay in Kazakhstan, not far from where the Soyuz capsule was expected to land, to bring Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor to Moscow.
"I have to be there to give Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor a medical examination. He will be brought to a temporary medical centre before being taken to the nearest airport to be flown to the Star City astronaut training centre in Moscow," he said.
He said the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft was expected to land at 2.37pm Moscow time (6.37pm in Malaysia), and that it would take eight hours after landing to reach the Russian capital.
Dr Zulkeffeli said the preparations Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor had to make included relocating his special seat to the Soyuz spacecraft and listing the paraphernalia he would bring back to earth with him.
The Malaysian astronaut is allowed to carry up to seven kilogrammes of paraphernalia, including the findings of his research projects and personal belongings.
"By right, he is only allowed to carry up to five kilogrammes but the European Space Agency (ESA) acceded to our request to allow the additional two kilogrammes," he said.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor had also conducted experiments for ESA on the effects of micro gravity on the back of the human body, motor perception, resilience before and after being in the ISS, and stability of sight and the body.
The two astronauts who went to the ISS along with Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor in the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft, Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, will take the place of Yurchinkhin and Kotov on the ISS. Another astronaut, Clay Anderson, is also on board the ISS.
Yurchinkhin will hand over command of the ISS to Whitson on Sunday.
-- BERNAMA
He will return with Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov in the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft which the two Russian cosmonauts had used to go to the ISS in April on Expedition 15.
National Angkasawan Programme Director Col Dr Zulkeffeli Mat Jusoh said the spacecraft carrying the three astronauts was expected to land in the Arkylk region of Kazakhstan, some 1,500km from Moscow.
For the return journey, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor has to ensure that his weight is 82kg, just as it was when he left for the ISS on Oct 10 aboard the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft which is now docked at the ISS.
"If his weight has exceeded the 82kg while in the ISS, he will be required to reduce his weight through exercise in a special cubicle in the ISS. This is to maintain equilibrium in the Soyuz spacecraft the three astronauts will be returning to earth in," he told Bernama when contacted in Moscow today.
Dr Zulkeffeli said he would leave for Qostanay in Kazakhstan, not far from where the Soyuz capsule was expected to land, to bring Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor to Moscow.
"I have to be there to give Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor a medical examination. He will be brought to a temporary medical centre before being taken to the nearest airport to be flown to the Star City astronaut training centre in Moscow," he said.
He said the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft was expected to land at 2.37pm Moscow time (6.37pm in Malaysia), and that it would take eight hours after landing to reach the Russian capital.
Dr Zulkeffeli said the preparations Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor had to make included relocating his special seat to the Soyuz spacecraft and listing the paraphernalia he would bring back to earth with him.
The Malaysian astronaut is allowed to carry up to seven kilogrammes of paraphernalia, including the findings of his research projects and personal belongings.
"By right, he is only allowed to carry up to five kilogrammes but the European Space Agency (ESA) acceded to our request to allow the additional two kilogrammes," he said.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor had also conducted experiments for ESA on the effects of micro gravity on the back of the human body, motor perception, resilience before and after being in the ISS, and stability of sight and the body.
The two astronauts who went to the ISS along with Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor in the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft, Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, will take the place of Yurchinkhin and Kotov on the ISS. Another astronaut, Clay Anderson, is also on board the ISS.
Yurchinkhin will hand over command of the ISS to Whitson on Sunday.
-- BERNAMA
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Wah! We are now a space power
By Azmi Sharom
The Star
You might not know this, but there have been a lot of unhappy rumblings in Malaysian society regarding our space programme.
Actually, that is not accurate. We don’t really have a “space programme”, do we? After all, it’s not like we are pushing the technological frontiers and designing cutting-edge manned spacecraft.
No, to be more precise, we have an astronaut-training programme. Whoa, whoa, that is not true either. We didn’t train anyone; we paid the Russians to train our astronaut.
Oh, blow it all. That is still wrong. He is not an astronaut; he is a cosmonaut. The terms, according to Nasa, mean different things but, according to the Russians (and us), they mean the same thing.
Oh, this is all so confusing. All right, all right, let us start over again.
You might not know this, but there have been a lot of unhappy rumblings in Malaysian society regarding our paying the Russians buckets of money – the amount of which the Malaysian public is not 100% sure about – to train a bloke to be a spaceman (as accurate a definition I can think of, because he is a man and he is in space).
Yes, it is true. This wonderful achievement of the country – to find a handsome, clean-cut, healthy, intelligent fellow and pay someone else to get him into space – is being sneered at in some cynical quarters.
If you happen to be one of those people, I say to you: tsk, tsk, tsk. Where is your sense of patriotism? Where is your child-like optimism?
Going into space is a big deal. Just ask Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth, two space tourists who did not have the luxury of buying Russian jet fighters to contra the costs of their cosmic flights. Coincidentally, one of the nasty things people are calling our Malaysian spaceman is “space tourist”.
For your information, unlike the two gentlemen mentioned above, our spaceman is not a tourist. No, no, no. He is going to do experiments, important experiments.
Apart from important experiments, he is going to be doing so much good in other ways. For example, he has opened the doors of opportunity for ordinary Malaysians. One of these days, I might go to space. To conduct experiments.
Don’t laugh because it is possible, for if the good doctor has proven anything, it is that if the Government is willing to spend a bit of money, anyone can go to space. Kind of like a galactic AirAsia.
Let us not forget all those little schoolchildren who are being inspired as you read this. They are going to know that Malaysia Boleh.
We can do all sorts of things. We are now a space power!
The next time their school computer lab collapses, or their teachers get demoralised due to poor pay, they can tell themselves that it all does not matter because we are a space power!
Last but not least, the spaceman is going to land on earth brimming with new scientific know-how. I am sure he will be able to use this newfound knowledge to help the country.
There is a great deal of high-tech equipment around that keeps malfunctioning. The traffic lights on Jalan Universiti, Kuala Lumpur, used to have a countdown, but it doesn’t work now.
And all that experience with space station to earth video conferencing will come in mighty useful in Dataran Merdeka, where the super high-tech giant TV screen broke down just when eager patriotic Malaysians gathered to watch the Soyuz rocket blast off.
So, all you naysayer types are very wrong and misguided. You should be like me and embrace our spaceman programme. Sit back and think of the glory that is “Malaysia the Space Power” while you unwrap a Raya ketupat.
Wait a minute; that is a great idea for a space experiment. How does unwrapping Raya ketupats fare in zero gravity ??
The Star
You might not know this, but there have been a lot of unhappy rumblings in Malaysian society regarding our space programme.
Actually, that is not accurate. We don’t really have a “space programme”, do we? After all, it’s not like we are pushing the technological frontiers and designing cutting-edge manned spacecraft.
No, to be more precise, we have an astronaut-training programme. Whoa, whoa, that is not true either. We didn’t train anyone; we paid the Russians to train our astronaut.
Oh, blow it all. That is still wrong. He is not an astronaut; he is a cosmonaut. The terms, according to Nasa, mean different things but, according to the Russians (and us), they mean the same thing.
Oh, this is all so confusing. All right, all right, let us start over again.
You might not know this, but there have been a lot of unhappy rumblings in Malaysian society regarding our paying the Russians buckets of money – the amount of which the Malaysian public is not 100% sure about – to train a bloke to be a spaceman (as accurate a definition I can think of, because he is a man and he is in space).
Yes, it is true. This wonderful achievement of the country – to find a handsome, clean-cut, healthy, intelligent fellow and pay someone else to get him into space – is being sneered at in some cynical quarters.
If you happen to be one of those people, I say to you: tsk, tsk, tsk. Where is your sense of patriotism? Where is your child-like optimism?
Going into space is a big deal. Just ask Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth, two space tourists who did not have the luxury of buying Russian jet fighters to contra the costs of their cosmic flights. Coincidentally, one of the nasty things people are calling our Malaysian spaceman is “space tourist”.
For your information, unlike the two gentlemen mentioned above, our spaceman is not a tourist. No, no, no. He is going to do experiments, important experiments.
Apart from important experiments, he is going to be doing so much good in other ways. For example, he has opened the doors of opportunity for ordinary Malaysians. One of these days, I might go to space. To conduct experiments.
Don’t laugh because it is possible, for if the good doctor has proven anything, it is that if the Government is willing to spend a bit of money, anyone can go to space. Kind of like a galactic AirAsia.
Let us not forget all those little schoolchildren who are being inspired as you read this. They are going to know that Malaysia Boleh.
We can do all sorts of things. We are now a space power!
The next time their school computer lab collapses, or their teachers get demoralised due to poor pay, they can tell themselves that it all does not matter because we are a space power!
Last but not least, the spaceman is going to land on earth brimming with new scientific know-how. I am sure he will be able to use this newfound knowledge to help the country.
There is a great deal of high-tech equipment around that keeps malfunctioning. The traffic lights on Jalan Universiti, Kuala Lumpur, used to have a countdown, but it doesn’t work now.
And all that experience with space station to earth video conferencing will come in mighty useful in Dataran Merdeka, where the super high-tech giant TV screen broke down just when eager patriotic Malaysians gathered to watch the Soyuz rocket blast off.
So, all you naysayer types are very wrong and misguided. You should be like me and embrace our spaceman programme. Sit back and think of the glory that is “Malaysia the Space Power” while you unwrap a Raya ketupat.
Wait a minute; that is a great idea for a space experiment. How does unwrapping Raya ketupats fare in zero gravity ??
Sheikh Muszaphar Helps In Research For Other Countries
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 (Bernama) -- Malaysian astronaut Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha, who is currently at the International Space Station (ISS), is also assisting the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in their research.
National Angkasawan Programme Director Col Dr Zulkeffeli Mat Jusoh said the research involved the effects of microgravity and solar radiation on the astronaut's body system.
"The ESA research is on the effects of microgravity on the back portion of the body, movement perception, resilience before and after the ISS trip and the stability of visibility and the body," he told Bernama when contacted in Moscow today.
The JAXA study is on the level of exposure to radiation by the astronaut in space.
"JAXA introduced a gadget which is placed in the astronaut's shirt pocket to study the radiation level," he said.
All the studies conducted by Dr Sheikh Muszaphar will be brought back for analysis to their countries of origin be it Russia, Japan or Malaysia.
He said Dr Sheikh Muszaphar was in good health and could conduct all the experiments entrusted to him.
Dr Zulkeffeli said his sleeping hours had also stabilised at eight hours daily compared to six hours previously and that he also performed daily prayers.
He said plans to welcome back Malaysia's first astronaut would be made in stages starting tomorrow.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar and two Russian astronauts are expected to land on Oct 21.
-- BERNAMA
National Angkasawan Programme Director Col Dr Zulkeffeli Mat Jusoh said the research involved the effects of microgravity and solar radiation on the astronaut's body system.
"The ESA research is on the effects of microgravity on the back portion of the body, movement perception, resilience before and after the ISS trip and the stability of visibility and the body," he told Bernama when contacted in Moscow today.
The JAXA study is on the level of exposure to radiation by the astronaut in space.
"JAXA introduced a gadget which is placed in the astronaut's shirt pocket to study the radiation level," he said.
All the studies conducted by Dr Sheikh Muszaphar will be brought back for analysis to their countries of origin be it Russia, Japan or Malaysia.
He said Dr Sheikh Muszaphar was in good health and could conduct all the experiments entrusted to him.
Dr Zulkeffeli said his sleeping hours had also stabilised at eight hours daily compared to six hours previously and that he also performed daily prayers.
He said plans to welcome back Malaysia's first astronaut would be made in stages starting tomorrow.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar and two Russian astronauts are expected to land on Oct 21.
-- BERNAMA
PM Gets His Wish To Speak To Dr Sheikh Muszaphar
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi finally got his wish to speak to Malaysian angkasawan Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha when connection was established with the International Space Station (ISS) via video-conferencing from Astro's Studio 7 at 9pm today.
"I still want to wish you Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and also on behalf of my wife and the people of Malaysia as I couldn't do it the other day due to a transmission problem," said Abdullah who was clearly excited to see Dr Sheikh Muszaphar floating as he spoke to the Prime Minister from the ISS.
The 15-minute video conferencing saw Abdullah posing a number of questions to Dr Sheikh Muszaphar with regards to his health, conditions on space and his experiments.
"Now that you are in the space station, do you feel that the training given in Russia was adequate or you would have wished for additional training," asked Abdullah.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar, who thanked the Prime Minister and Malaysians, replied that it was his seventh day in space and that the training in Russia was a big help in making his mission a success.
The Prime Minister, who was with his wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah, thanked Dr Sheikh Muszaphar for making Malaysia proud and displaying the true identity of a Malaysian in space.
"This means you will be able to undertake the responsibilities given to you to do some experiments as well and we look forward to you bringing back some of the specimens," said Abdullah.
The Prime Minister also asked Dr Sheikh Muszaphar whether he had any problems in performing his praying routines to which he replied that there was none and that the guidelines from the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (Jakim) were useful.
Abdullah was also curious to know if Dr Sheikh Muszaphar's experiments were on schedule and if he had recorded all his day-to-day activities to be published in a book for future reference to which the angkasawan said he had recorded every detail in his laptop to be shared by everybody upon his return to earth on Oct 21.
A concerned Abdullah also wanted to know if he had any health problems since his blast off till now and congratulated Dr Sheikh Muszaphar for doing a good job.
The prime minister also extended his regards to the rest of the crew at the ISS for their help rendered.
Meanwhile, Jeanne asked Dr Sheikh Muszaphar whether he was eating well and enjoying the food he had taken with him and wished him a safe homecoming.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar together with Russian astronaut Yuri Malenchenko and Commander Peggy Whitson of the United States are crew members of the Soyuz TMA-11 which blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct 10.
The Soyuz docked with the ISS at 10.52pm Malaysian time on Oct 12 and the crew joined Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov and Clay Anderson, three crew of the previous mission to the ISS.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar, an orthopaedic surgeon, will carry out four experiments drawn up by Malaysian scientists including a study of the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and microbes.
He is scheduled to return to Earth on Oct 21 with two Russian astronauts Yurchikhin and Kotov while Malenchenko and Whitson will stay on.
-- BERNAMA
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