KUCHING (Sarawak, Malaysia), June 23 (NNN-Bernama) — Political stability and a progressive government will propel Malaysia to achieve its commitment to send a second astronaut in 2030, said the nation’s first astronaut Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor.
He said the initiative under the Malaysian National Space Agency’s blueprint aims to send the country’s first ‘angkasawati’ or woman astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) and the round of selection will take place in 2025 or 2026.
“The blueprint is to search for the angkasawati, for a woman (astronaut) this time and I do hope it will come from Sarawak state,” he said when met by reporters after delivering a talk at the Museum of The Moon Exhibition at Borneo Cultures Museum here.
In 2013, it was reported that Malaysia under the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MOSTI) was expected to deploy a second batch of astronauts to carry out numerous research work on the ISS by 2016.
On the exhibition, he said the museum could design more activities in future that would attract young visitors to become doctors, scientists and engineers.
Earlier during his motivational talk entitled ‘Journey To Space’, Sheikh Muszaphar, who went to space in 2007 said the Sarawak government plays a vital role to spark interest among Sarawakian students to venture into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.
— NNN-BERNAMA