Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor is set to become the first Malaysian to travel into space.
Sheikh Muszaphar will blast off aboard a Russian-built Soyuz space craft en route to the international space station along with Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and US astronaut Peggy Whitson. They blast off from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 10.
I have mix feeling about this… it’s a good thing that Malaysia is sending someone into the space finally, but I don’t really applaud on how it is (going to be) done. I mean, what have Malaysian contributed towards the space project besides funding it? Does Malaysia really benefit anything significant besides having a colourful page in our record book?
In fact I have problems calling Muszaphar an astronaut; for me he is merely a government sponsored space traveller… does that make him an astronaut? I am not sure… I always think astronaut is something special.
Regardless, Sheikh Muszaphar is going to be in Malaysia record book for his achievement. I don’t have any problem with this man in person; the government offered an opportunity, he went for it and got it… kudos for that. I wish him all the best.
I just hope that years after this event, the Angkasawan project could meet its objective of spurring the interest of younger generations into science and technology development, and prove that it is not a money wasting idea.