Malaysia's first astronaut to space

The Soyuz ship carrying astronaut Shekh Muszaphar Shukor left the Baikonur, Kazakhstan launch yard last afternoon, to board the ISS international space station, marking the first time in a Malaysian history.

Soyuz TMA-11 at Baikonur space airport, preparing to take Malaysian astronauts to the ISS station.(Photo: Physorg)

Accompanying Shukor is American astronaut Peggy Whitson, new commander of the ISS and Russian astronaut Yuri Malenchenko. He will stay here for 9 days then return to earth with two astronauts out of duty on the station. The two accompanying people will stay in ISS for 6 months.

Shekh Muszaphar Shukor, 35, will represent Malaysia's Genome Institute in conducting a series of scientific experiments while in space, including experiments involving cancer-causing cells. Previously, he spent a year training in Star City, which specializes in Russian space programs.

This is a long-awaited event in Malaysia and considered an important milestone in this Southeast Asian country. Astronaut Shukor also described his mission as a "giant step" of all Malaysians.

Shekh Muszaphar Shukor will also be the first Muslim in the world to fly into the universe at the time of the Ramadan diet. Malaysian officials have prepared him for instructions on practicing religious ceremonies while on ISS.

Each day ISS circulates around the world 16 times, so according to Islamic Shukor regulations will have to pray 80 times in 24 hours. But according to the Malaysian guidelines, he will only need to celebrate 5 times a day and the prayer time is based on where the spaceship is launched.

The trip to Shukor astronaut's ISS international space station was done in part because Malaysia's contract to buy Russian fighters worth billions of dollars.

Malaysian astronaut Shekh Muszaphar Shukor . (Photo: Reuters)

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