Malaysia Sends Cell, Bacteria And Protein Into Space

Malaysia will not only be sending astronauts but also cancer cells, bacteria and protein for research in space, said Director-General of National Space Agency (Angkasa) Professor Datuk Dr Mazlan Othman.

She added the two cell types are liver cancer cells and leukaemia cancer cells and two types of bacteria (microbes) -- Helicobacter Pylori and Acinetobacter Baumanii.

In addition, protein crystalisation of Thermostable Lipase and Cold Active Lipase will also be done in space.

"This research mission will be given to our two astronauts Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Kapten Dr Faiz Khaleed," she told reporters at Universiti Kebangsaan Hospital Malaysia (HUKM) here Friday.

The Malaysian astronauts will undergo a research and development programme (R&D) at the International Space Station (ISS) some 402.34 km from earth for ten days.

Only one of them will be chosen to join the Russian spaceship Soyuz to ISIS.

They are currently undergoing 12 months training at the Yuri Gagarin Space Training Centre at Star City in Moscow since Oct 9.

Sheikh Muszaphar and Dr Faiz returned home on Dec 30 to celebrate Aidiladha after being given leave by the Russian Federation Space Agency (Roskosmos).

Dr Mazlan said Malaysian scientists will send the cell and bacteria to the launching centre to be placed into the Soyuz rocket that will take the Malaysian astronaut into space.

The Malaysian scientists involved in the project are Director of Molecule Medical Institute (UMBI), UKM Professor Dr Abdul Rahman Abdul Jamal, Fellow UMBI, Professor Dr Ramelah Mohamed and Professor Dr Raja Noor Zaliha Raja Abd Rahman from the Biotechnology and Biomolecular Science Faculty of Universiti Putra Malaysia. (Bernama)

****** And to think that some of us were worried that one of our spacenauts was going to make a fool of himself by playing batu seremban and making teh tarik in space. As you now know it is a space mission with bona fide experiments which will add to our pool of scientific knowledge and data. Thank goodness for that.
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