Najib Will Go To Moscow To Greet Malaysian Astronaut On His Return From Space

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will be here on Oct 21 to welcome back to earth Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha, the first Malaysian to go into space.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis said here today Najib, who will represent Malaysia and its people, had confirmed by telephone his presence here on that date.

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar is scheduled to return to earth at 6 pm (Russian time) at a location 1,500km from here. He will be with Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov, who are now in the International Space Station (ISS).

The Malaysian had blasted off into space from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on Oct 10 in the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft with Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko, and is scheduled to dock with the ISS tonight.

Jamaludin said it would take between six and eight hours for the two recovery helicopters to locate the spacecraft and bring the crew to the nearest airport for their flight to Moscow.

He also said that he would convey to the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, the Malaysian government's decision to have backup astronaut Capt Dr Faiz Khaleed participate in the next space mission.

Jamaludin said he would seek the assistance of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States to train Dr Faiz to surpass the NASA benchmark for an astronaut.

"Both Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Dr Faiz have surpassed the benchmark set by Russia. Now we want them to surpass the American benchmark," he said.

Jamaludin said efforts must also be made to find a backup astronaut for Dr Faiz, who himself had been the backup astronaut for Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor.

Meanwhile, Dr Faiz said he was happy to know that the Malaysian government, as announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Oct 10, had decided to enable him participate in the next space mission. (Bernama)

***** What a caring and concerned leader we have in our beloved DPM, who is taking the trouble to go all the way to Russia to receive our angkasawan on his return. I wonder which other country will bother to send their number two man in a similar situation. Keeping in mind that Najib is a very busy person on a hectic daily schedule, it must be quite a sacrifice for him to travel to Moscow and await our angkasawan.

There are of course those who would say that he is merely trying to get some reflected publicity from the space trip. I don't know. What do you think?
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