National Space Programme director Kolonel Dr Zulkeffeli Mat Jusoh said Malaysia's first astronaut Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha will get to meet family members before blasting off into space Thursday, reported bernama. Dr Zulkeffeli, who is also the head of department of aerophysiology at the Royal Malaysian Air Force's Aviation Medical Institute in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur, said that two buses will bring the astronauts to the launch site. "And in keeping with tradition, the second bus will bring the reserve astronauts but will stop midway during the journey. Capt Dr Faiz Khaleed (Malaysia's reserve astronaut) will be on it," he told Malaysian reporters here today. He also said that the crew that will go on the mission (who will be on the first bus) would be observing certain astronaut traditions that have been practised since Russia's Yuri Gagarin made the first manned-space mission in 1961. "We hope all Malaysians will join in prayer for a successful mission," added Dr Zulkeffeli. Dr Sheikh Muszaphar together with Peggi Whitson of the United States and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko will blast off for the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrom here at 7.21pm local time or 9.21pm Malaysian time.
