Malaysia’s first angkasawan (space traveller) will be recognised as a cosmonaut by the Russian space authorities, said Malaysian Science, Technology and Innovations Minister Datuk Seri Jamaludin Jarjis [via Bernama]…
“Some countries might question this, but to me, it is not important. What matters is that the candidate was selected and trained by Russia and the country recognises him as a true cosmonaut.”
He was commenting on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) referring to Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha, one of two Malaysians eligible to make an expedition to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz rocket on Oct 10, as “space flight participant” on its website.
Cosmonaut, astronaut, roti-naut, whatever-naut… Malaysia will have a man in space pretty soon, that’s the fact. I still prefer to call him a space traveller though, sounds more fitting, and I don’t see anything wrong with it.