Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor (born Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Al Masrie bin

Sheikh Mustapha on July 27, 1972) is a Malaysian orthopaedic surgeon and was the
first Malaysian to go into space. He was launched to the International Space Station
aboard Soyuz TMA-11 with the Expedition 16 crew on October 10, 2007.[1][2] Sheikh
Muszaphar flew under an agreement with Russia through the Angkasawan program,
and returned to Earth on October 21, 2007, aboard Soyuz TMA-10 with the
Expedition 15 crew members, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov.[3][

Career

Sheikh Muszaphar was born in Kuala Lumpur and attended high school at Maktab
Rendah Sains MARA in Muar. He then earned a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery
degree from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India.[5].He was pursuing his
Masters of Surgery in Orthopaedic Surgery at University Kebangsaan Malaysia when
he joined the 'Angkasawan' program.

Sheikh Muszaphar is an orthopedic surgeon,[6] and a university medical officer in

medicine at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.[3][7] In 1998, Sheikh Muszaphar
worked at Hospital Seremban, followed by a move to Kuala Lumpur General Hospital
in 1999, and was on staff at Hospital Selayang from 2000 through 2001.[5] Sheikh
Muszaphar is also a part-time model.[8][9][10]

[edit] Angkasawan program

Main article: Angkasawan program

Sheikh Muszaphar and three other finalists were selected at the beginning of 2006 for
the Malaysian Angkasawan spaceflight program. The program arose after Russia
agreed to transport one Malaysian to the ISS as part of a multi-billion purchase of 18
Russian Sukhoi Su-30MKM fighter jets by Malaysia. After completing initial training
at Star City in Russia, Sheikh Muszaphar and Faiz Khaleed were selected to undergo
an 18-month training program in Russia, at the end of which Sheikh Muszaphar was
chosen as the prime crew member, while Faiz Khaleed served as back-up. [11]
Following the final medical tests and training examinations, on September 17, it was
announced that Sheikh Muszaphar would be flying on Soyuz 11.[12]

During a NASA news conference with the Expedition 16 crew on July 23, 2007, and
news conferences following his selection, Sheikh Muszaphar said he hoped to be able
to take various live cell cultures to study during his flight.[1][13]

[edit] Terminology

Flying as a guest of the Russian government,[14] Sheikh Muszaphar's role aboard

Soyuz and the ISS is referred to as a spaceflight participant in English-language
Russian Federal Space Agency and NASA documents and press briefings.[4][15][16][17]
Speaking to Malaysian media outlets, Alexander Karchava, the Russian ambassador
to Malaysia, stated that Sheikh Muszaphar is a "fully-fledged cosmonaut".[18] In an
interview with the Malaysian Star newspaper, Robert Gibson, a retired NASA
astronaut, shared his opinion that Sheikh Muszaphar is fully qualified as an astronaut,
and as such, he should be called one. Gibson also said he regarded Sheikh Muszaphar
as a peer.[19]

[edit] Spaceflight

Soyuz TMA-11 carrying Whitson, Malenchenko, and Sheikh Muszaphar, successfully

launched at 13:22 UTC, Wednesday, October 10, 2007.[20][21][22]

[edit] Space experiments

Sheikh Muszaphar performed experiments on board the International Space Station

relating to the characteristics and growth of liver cancer and leukemia cells, the
crystallisation of various proteins and microbes in space.[23]

The experiments relating to liver cancer, leukemia cells and microbes will benefit
general science and medical research, while the experiments relating to the
crystallisation of proteins, lipases in this case, will directly benefit local industries.

Lipase are a type of protein enzymes used in the manufacturing of a diverse range of
products from textiles to cosmetics, and the opportunity to grow these in space will
mean a possibility for Malaysian scientists to take a crack at an industry worth some
USD2.2bil (MYR7.7bil) worldwide by producing these locally.[24]

[edit] Spaceflight and religion

Since Sheikh Muszaphar is a Muslim, and as his time in space coincided with the last
part of Ramadan, the Islamic National Fatwa Council drew up the first comprehensive
guidebook for Muslims in space.[1][3] The 18-page guidebook is titled "Guidelines for
Performing Islamic Rites (Ibadah) at the International Space Station", and details
issues such as how to pray in a low-gravity environment, how to locate Mecca from
the ISS, how to determine prayer times, and issues surrounding fasting. The orbit of
the ISS results in one day/night cycle every 90 minutes, [1][25] so the issues of fasting
during Ramadan are also addressed. The guidebook will be translated into Russian,
Arabic, and English.[7][26] Anan C. Mohd, from Malaysia's Department of Islamic
Development said that fasting while traveling is optional, so Sheikh Muszaphar could
choose what he would like to do, but if he did decide to fast in space, the times would
be centered around local time in Baikonur, where the launch takes place.[27][28] Sheikh
Muszaphar celebrated Eid ul-Fitr aboard the station, and packed some satay and
cookies to hand out to the rest of the crew on October 13, 2007 to mark the end of
Ramadan.[29]