Malaysia pick medical officer Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor to become our nation first astronaut, who will be send into space with a Russian rocket (Soyuz spacecraft) on September 2, 2007.
The 34-year-old Muszaphar will first head to Yuri Gagarin Aerospace Training Centre in Moscow for a 12-month traning, together with backup astronaut, 26-year-old army dentist Faiz Khaleed. [Bernama]
It actually sounds stupid when I read that PM Abdullah Badawi said “it would be the first step by Malaysia to prove its capability in the field of aerospace.” I mean sending an astronaut to space without our own technology, what’s there to achieve?
No grudge to the duo though, the country offer the opportunity and they managed to grab it from a pool of 12,000 Malaysian candidates. Bravo and good luck to them.
Quote of the day goes to Haniff Omar though, the head of Malaysia’s astronaut selection program, who mentioned that the astronaut will attempt to make a cup of Teh Tarik in space. [Reuters]
“The physics experiment is to see what happens to teh tarik in space”
Classic, I bet Malaysia will win a Nobel soon for the breakthrough in physic experiment.
September 5th, 2006 at 12:40 am
they oleidi got solution for the prayer or not, last time it make me laugh when i saw the news, where a group of scholars study about how muslims should pray in space.
September 5th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
i am thinking that izzit teh tarik can reveal anything for physical phenomenon? secondly, dun boast something before basic founding, this is my advice for malaysia aerospace policy…..even NASA initially not interest to do so called yadas in space but they more towards how to create a nice rocket..so, please think that train up people for rocket and space transport technology before think wanna show the dignity and pride of nation in space! ;P
September 6th, 2006 at 2:08 am
ken.. I almost forgot about the prayer issue, I’m wondering what’s the solution as well.
Patrick.. exactly, there’s no point for the Teh Tarik other than publicity stunt, and it’s not really a brilliant publicity tactic.
I can’t really see the economic value for aerospace technology at the moment, Malaysia are lacking on lots of aspect when it comes to high-tech.. I would rather see the government focusing to improve the quality of our homemade cars instead.
September 7th, 2006 at 9:52 am
Is malaysian sending his man to the moon or Russia???????
September 7th, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Malaysia will send the man to Russia, Russia will send the man to the space.
September 7th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
[...] Running through the Blogsphere, there not much “Malaysia Boleh” support on this little but expensive “experiment” – Most condemn it; others clap their hands and say thanks for making Malaysia look stupid. I could not disagree more on this. Once in a lifetime opportunity and Malaysia decides to blow it away on something trivial as doing a teh tarik. It can be a “Malaysian” thing but come on, not at this level and cost. [...]
September 10th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
lol… make the teh tarik, promote to the world, and we can three times the teh tarik price..
September 11th, 2006 at 12:49 am
We should do a teh tarik franchise instead. Space Cafe..
September 13th, 2006 at 3:04 am
omg godd! i know what u mean…….at first i thought it wuz some joke on some lame malay newspaper..turns out true..cudnt help bursting out laffing………….
quote from dr. faiz (bernama)
“Making teh tarik in space would bring Malaysian customs to the attention of a worldwide audience ”
RITE!
September 13th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Definitely will get some attention worldwide if we do that.. not necessary positive attention though lol.
September 26th, 2006 at 11:14 am
Saudi Arabia already have the honour of having the first Muslim Astronaut in space. Before going into space he went to consult the Grand Imam of Mecca mosque on the question of prayers in orbit. The answer given was simple, you can’t pray while in space because according to his belief no spacecraft can leave earth. Problem solved, don’t need any complicated seminars and conferences; pure waste of time and money by our National Space Agency.
September 26th, 2006 at 11:50 am
lol kowtim.. interesting story. The Imam got his point though, when you are not on earth you shouldn’t be bound by the ‘law of earth’. I guess East-West-South-North doesn’t really matters any more when someone is in space.
November 16th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
[...] “The astronaut will also paint a batik motif and make ‘teh tarik’ (’pulled’ tea) which would be shared with his fellow astronauts,” said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry parliamentary secretary Rohani Abdul Karim. [Bernama] [...]
November 19th, 2006 at 6:33 pm
[...] State the “stupid” statement aside, the whole article does have some points, like the waste of government fund for some stupid projects like sending Malaysian to space to make tea. [...]
February 2nd, 2007 at 1:50 am
I still don’t get it… what is the objective of this mission again?
February 2nd, 2007 at 3:58 am
Ermm do we need an objective? Have to ask the government…
June 21st, 2007 at 3:58 pm
wow…i thought teh tarik only for malaysian in malaysia,it can be international attraction
September 29th, 2007 at 9:47 am
chasing for false pride again.
October 1st, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Ayo, yo! our ‘astronaut’ is not an ‘astronaut’ according to NASA, but only a ’spaceflight participant’.
Check it out here
In the photo, all the real astronauts wear ‘Expedition XVI insignia on their shirt. but the ’spaceflight participant’ wears his own shirt-badge “Angkasawan Malaysia”.
What is a ’spaceflight participant’?
Excerpt from an article at Wikipedia, the online free encyclopedia:
” …. NASA Public Affairs has used the term Spaceflight Participant to designate space tourists. Tito, Shuttleworth, Olsen, Ansari, and Simonyi were designated as such during their respective space flights.[6] lists Christa McAuliffe as a “Space Flight Participant” (although she did not pay a fee), apparently due to her non-technical duties aboard the STS-51-L flight…..”
Read the full article on ‘Spaceflight Participant’ at the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceflight_participant
Ayo, yo! so, our ‘angkasawan’ is not an ‘astronaut’ but in reality a SPACE-TOURIST.
Suma kita warang Malaysia sudah kena tipu.
Ayo, yo! Ayo, yo! Ayo, yo! ….. Malaysia Boleh Laa ….
October 10th, 2007 at 8:10 am
Jee,
dude your english is crap. haha. And your commenting on incompetencies.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:16 am
THAT IS FUNNY.
I WONDER WHAT KIND F FEELING THAT SO CALLED ANGKASAWAN HAS IN HIS MIND.
VERY EXCITING?
FEELING ASHAME OF HIMSELF?
MY ADVICE IS: YOU DO ANYTHING BUT PLEASE DO NOT SERVE THOSE SATAY AND KUIL MUIL. SAW NEWS ON THESTAR.COM.MY
QUOTE:” He has taken satay and some kuih Raya to treat the others on board.”
I THINK THIS WILL BE THE CONVERSATION IN BETWEEN THEM,
ANGKASAWAN: HOI BROTHER, MAU MAKAN KIUL OR SATAH KAH, VERY SEDAP?
REAL ANGKASAWAN: PLEASE DO NOT KACAU. HAHAHAHAHHA…
ANGKASAWAN: HOI BROTHER, RELAK AH. HOLIDAY MAH
I CANNOT TAHAN THAT JOKE.
GOT ANY I LOVE MALAYSIA T-SHIRT ON EBAY. THINKING TO BUY ONE.
I HOPE TONIGHT JAY LENO WOULD TALK ABOUT THIS. CAN NOT WAIT.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:40 am
WHAT IS THE FEELING OF HAVING SEX IN THE OUTER SPACE.
BETTER THAN MILE HIGH CLUB.
LOKTOR Sheikh Muszaphar JERK OFF IN THE OUTER SPACE.
October 10th, 2007 at 8:50 am
hello brothers dont say like that, this man already risk his life for this mission u know, but the most important things is our people has the physical endurance and courage for the mission, its not easy u know………
October 10th, 2007 at 10:01 am
ask ali, ah chong and mutu. or every ah pek, pakcik along the street,
what kind of pride do we have?
the longest buffet, tallest building, biggest mooncake, now the worst, astronaut.
astronaut (malaysia government term) = astro-nut (crazy of astro movies)
fuck you all. fuck chinese, fuck malay, fuck india. fuck you all. finally i fuck myself. how about that.
October 10th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Nasib baik la Malaysia tak hantar u pergi ker ISS, kalau tak lagi malu rakyat Malaysia!!
October 13th, 2007 at 1:07 am
comeon, what’s the point discussing on this matter.
October 13th, 2007 at 1:37 am
Stupid ISS.. use ur brain and think la.. malay always do those “sia sui” thing.. this time astronaut again.. !! wat is the pride.. ??
that is all malay ppl style lar.. !! look at proton.. 10 year ++ of making car..! but no improvement at all.. always cheat our money..!! this is really malu rakyat malaysia..!! Pig..!!
October 16th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Whatever you guys blabbering and shitting about Malaysian Astronaut, whatever it is, the only person now that is in the space at the moment is Dr. Muszaphar. He is the one who experienced the feeling of getting of from the earth in a rocket, the feeling of entering the microgravity zone, and etc. What of all you guys here who are muttering and blabbering about him got? Nothing. zeets. Null. Zero. All of these comments came out from a jealous, disregard, pityful, shameful, ungrateful person. You guys are not deserved to stay in Malaysia. Show some support.
October 17th, 2007 at 3:28 am
dzul, the captain is a 47 year old woman.
October 17th, 2007 at 10:24 am
this is not the place to show your racism, please. everyone of you should respect each other.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
you guys just demonstrated what typical malaysians are like..all complaining and no action..at least the government did send one of us to outer space…you can argue that the millions spent could be used to help the less fortunate etc etc..however the amount was less than 1% of Malaysia’s GDP…
sure we can all use the “money spent for the angkasawan program was a waste, should be used to help out the poor” argument..but how many of you guys spent a fortune of your monthly or yearly earnings at nightclubs,on that nice leather shoes,on the gucci handbag,on that ray ban sunglasses, on china girl hookers etc when the money could be used on the poor?on the orphaned?etc etc…
“ofcourse i spent on ray bans and nightclubs..im not boring ma..i wanna enjoy life!” you say?SURE!that is your agenda…godknows if there are any payoffs.but sending our first malaysian to space is our government’s agenda..and the payoff?tremendous payoffs..look..the first russian into space and the first american on the moon sparked a nationwide interest in science and engineering and have led to great economy expansions in those countries’ due to the creation of high class human capital..
this is exactly what malaysia is striving for..
guys…we are a young nation and have accomplished many things after our independence 50 years ago..lets strive for more success and leave the narrow minded thinking behind…
MALAYSIA BOLEH!
October 20th, 2007 at 10:33 am
What a waste ….
check it out
http://ntbn.wordpress.com/2…..gkasawan-malaysia/
October 20th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Actually this guy is the best choice == handsome n looks very like MAS air steward. So he will make a very good Air STEWARD in space serving satay and kuih –in his batik shirt —–to the astronauts.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
malaysia government surely going crazy ald. talking rubbish all the time. all the foreigners are teasing our stupidity while they applause for this BIG ACHIEVEMENT. Yeah, BIG ACHIEVEMENT to take out million of dollars to send a astronaut tourists to ISS. Idiot country lead by idiot politician. Malaysia is definitely the hell of the heaven.
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Wasting money, useless
October 23rd, 2007 at 3:14 pm
i believe mmdc is right..this is for the future to inspire millions of malaysian.russia and the us was in a similar position 50-60 years ago and look how far they have gone.all you naysayers are idiots!short term thinking idiots!
October 29th, 2007 at 2:03 am
mmdc,
I still believe the money is better spent on the country. But yea, people who spend money at night clubs have no right to say msia wasted money on him.
But people like me, work really hard, earn the money and keep it for my family. I don’t smoke, drink or go karaoke at night clubs. I use my money to pay my ptptn college loan and my current college fees and my sister’s college fees. Money is hard to earn and we should not waste it. Not at night club and not in space. We go to those places only when we have enough money.
I am not saying Msia should not send someone to space. It has advantages and also disadvantages. But is it the right decision? I don’t know, you have to be a government insider to know, but I do know this:
If the advantages are MORE THAN the disadvantages AND the money spent, then it is worth it. If not, then it is a wrong decision.
November 18th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
how come the Spaceflight Participant dont have any biography link?
December 24th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
i think they should do something worth the money spent there …just don’t be idiots
August 7th, 2008 at 10:41 am
A kampung boy, sat on a taxi car for the first time. He told his friend he proud of it so much.
A city boy then one day meet the kampung boy, I built those car and drive them. I glad that you proud on sitting on it.
Kampung boy then replied, “yup, i proud of it because i drink teh tarik in the taxi”
City boy then said” don’t you want to learn how to drive and learn how they are fuction?”
Kampung boy relied, “no, my parent give me the money to sat on taxi and told me after this i can marry the girl i like and that what i gonna do.”
So the kampung boy, finally married the girl he like. And all his family is proud of their son sat on a taxi car and also married the girl he liked.
A historical moment to remember indeed.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Nice story