Malaysia's First Astronaut - Bbc News-Uk

 

Malaysia's first astronaut is set to blast off for a voyage to the International Space Station (ISS).
Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor will lift off from the Baikonur site cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, together with one Russian and one US astronaut. 

He will spend nine days on the space station before returning to Earth with the outgoing crew.
The launch has been eagerly anticipated in Malaysia, where it has been hailed as a landmark for the Asian nation. 

The Malaysian astronaut will fly in a Russian Soyuz rocket with American Peggy Whitson, the space station's new commander, and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko.
Ms Whitson and Mr Malenchenko will remain on the station for six months, replacing two astronauts with whom Mr Shukor will return. 

Ramadan rules
The 35-year-old doctor will conduct a series of scientific experiments while in space.
His visit to the station was agreed as part of Malaysia's billion-dollar purchase of Russian-made jets.
He described his mission as a "giant leap" for all Malaysians, and said he hoped to inspire his countrymen. 

Mr Shukor will be the first Muslim to fly in space during the holy month of Ramadan and will be there for the Eid festival, when he will treat his crewmates to a celebratory meal.
For the rest of the time he will try and observe the dawn-to-dusk fasting rules of Ramadan.
Muslim clerics in Malaysia have prepared special guidelines for him on observing religious rules while on the ISS. 

He will use a wet towel rather than water to clean himself before praying, and is not obliged to kneel in zero gravity or face Mecca while praying.
To avoid confusion about when to pray, Mr Shukor will follow the time at the launch site in Kazakhstan. 

He is not the first Muslim in space - but the BBC's Andrew Harding in Bangkok says it appears that those before him have been left to work out their religious practices on their own.
source : News.Bbc.Uk.

 

Sheikh Muzaffar Shukor

 

  

  

  

Peggy Whitson,Yuri Malenchenko and Sheikh Muzaffar Shukor

 Malaysia's 1st Astronaut - CNN News

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) -- A crew that includes Malaysia's first astronaut and an American who will become the first woman to command the international space station prepared Monday for blastoff later this week.

The Soyuz-FG rocket is scheduled to blast off from the Central Asian steppe on Wednesday night to take Malaysia's Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Peggy Whitson of Beaconsfield, Iowa, and Russian Yuri Malenchenko into orbit.

During his 12-day space trip, Shukor is to study of the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and microbes, as well as experiments with proteins for a potential HIV vaccine.
The rocket -- adorned with a Malaysian flag and coat of arms and carrying a Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft -- was moved Monday to the launch pad from its assembly site at the Baikonur cosmodrome , which Russia rents from Kazakhstan.

"It's too exciting to be cold," said Shankini Dovaisingam, a Malaysian aerospace engineer observing the final preparations. "It's amazing to see the Malaysian flag on a Soyuz spaceship."
The mission coincides with the last days of Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims fast from dawn until sundown, but Malaysian clerics decreed that Shukor will be excused from fasting while in space.
Shukor's religion also requires that he face Mecca for prayer but clerics decided that the exact location matters only for the beginning of the prayer ritual.

Shukor, 35, will bring a "symbolic" load of Malaysian food to the space station, said Zulkeffeli Mat Jusoh, a program director for the Malaysian space program.

The $25 million agreement for a Malaysian astronaut to fly to space was negotiated in 2003 along with a $900 million deal for Malaysia to buy 18 Russian fighter jets.
Shukor is to return to Earth on October 21 with two Russian members of the current space station crew.

Whitson and Malenchenko will stay on as the station's new crew, and will be joined in October by U.S. astronaut Daniel Tani, who is arriving with the shuttle Discovery. Tani will replace fellow American Clayton Anderson, who has been at the station since June.
source : CNN




Sheikh Muzaffar Shukor video/slide source :  Phoenix940420's
 

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