Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, the Malaysian orthopaedic surgeon aboard the Russian rocket that is now on its way to the International Space Station, can observe Ramadan and perform other acts of Muslim worship by following the guidelines set out in this small booklet, which was produced by 150 Islamic scholars and scientists at a conference held 18 months ago by the Malaysian National Space Agency.
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Sometimes it can be hard to read the scientific literature without peering through the lens of one's own prejudices. That said, I must agree with this:
Kelvin Chiong of Sarawak, Malaysia posted this cool photo of the Malaysian and Brazilian delegations, and some other friends:
Congratulations to SpaceX
Falcon 1 from SpaceX launched successfully on July 13th.
Launch placed Razaksat (Malaysian reconsat in near equatorial orbit) in orbit.
There I was, happily listening to R4 about some nonsense about obese kids, when suddenly I'm listening to a "Dr Stoat". Good heavens. He does indeed seem to exist, it wasn't my ears, e.g. here.
I'm reminded of the old joke about the orthodox Jew in orbit - "Oy it's exhausting, every ninety minutes: shacharit, mincha, maariv, shacharit, mincha, maariv ...".
(And don't even mention the international date line.)
Really csrster, this is not a joke.
Religious worship and science? Leave the faithful on the ground, put the scientists in orbit! What is he gonna do if something goes wrong, pray? What if he has findings which contradict the Vatican? Will he call the pope to make sure the data is according to god's will?
I'd think this item indicates the irrelevance of the ISS. If they have time for that...
The Malaysian National Space Agency Web Site has (too) many flash animations; but the page at
Home -> Space Science says: "Sorry, This section is under construction !" Let's hope that that does apply only to the web page, not Space Science in Malaysia!