By NNN-Bernama
Kuala Lumpur : The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has congratulated Malaysia’s first two astronauts, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Captain (Dr) Faiz Khaleed .
Conveying his congratulations on behalf of the Saudi people through Malaysian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr Ismail Ibrahim, the prince also extended his congratulations to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his predecessor, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, on this proud and historical occasion for Muslims worldwide.
The ambassador said in a statement received here Thursday that Malaysia’s success in participating in the space programme would add more pride in the eyes of Saudi citizens who considered Malaysia as a modern and dynamic Islamic country.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar, 35, and Dr Faiz, 27, who were chosen from 11,275 candidates, passed the final assessments with distinction and were qualified to represent Malaysia for the mission to the International Space Station (ISS), scheduled for next month.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar, a doctor with the Malaysian National University Hospital in Cheras here, has been selected to join the first crew for the Soyuz 15-S mission along with Russian Yuri Malechenko and Peggy Whitson of the United States.
Dr Faiz, a dentist with the Malaysian Armed Forces, will be part of the second standby crew with Russian Sharizan Sharipov and American Michael Fincke. The mission is scheduled for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9.21pm, Malaysian time, on Oct 10, just days before the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
The Malaysian astronaut is expected to conduct scientific research on cancer cells in space to study the effect of a weightless environment on the cells aboard the International Space Station, apart from performing fasting during the daytime (based on Baikonur time) as required of Muslims.