By Debra Chong
PUTRAJAYA, Nov 19 — Two years ago, a Malaysian was launched into space, seemingly the final frontier, but since then, his successor has come up against daily challenges much closer to home in the quest to propel the National Angkasawan Programme forward.
Major Dr Faiz Khaleed, the youthful-looking army dentist, does not groan aloud when asked his thoughts on critics who call him and Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor “space tourists”.
Nor does he sigh or slump his shoulders to show his annoyance or frustration at what must be one of the most frequently asked questions.
“People need to see the Angkasawan programme as more than just sending people out to space,” the second Malaysian astronaut replied steadily to The Malaysian Insider at his 5th-floor office in Putrajaya Holdings Towers here late yesterday afternoon.
The military man has been seconded indefinitely to the National Space Agency (Angkasa) under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) but still gets to work once a week in his dental surgery in Kuala Lumpur.
“It's a challenge for the agency to educate the public on what the space programme is about,” chipped in his Russian-born colleague Said Saidov, who is the unit head of international relations in the National Angkasawan Programme.
Faiz pointed to the National Space Challenge, an intensive physical and mental “boot camp” which was launched earlier this year by the Yayasan Angkasa, a separate arm of the space agency, to promote greater awareness in science, especially space science, technology and how it spurs innovation among the younger generation.
He noted that many school-goers, top achievers from each state, bombarded him with a flurry questions — some highly complex — about space; while others who were less keen at the start of the camp showed a deeper appreciation on the subject by the time they left.
He enjoys going on the road to schools, especially into the less urban areas, to talk about his astronaut training and programme and seeing the students' eager response.
“Science can be a dry subject,” he laughed, referring to his personal experience at the elite boys-only St John's Institution in Kuala Lumpur.
Faiz and Saidov first met three years ago when the army major and Dr Muszaphar were chosen and trained in Russia to pioneer Malaysia's missions in space.
While the latter has come back after the first successful flight in October 2007 and given the red-carpet treatment, Faiz is still waiting his turn to board the Soyuz spacecraft.
Between their bantering, Faiz and Saidov explained that the Angkasawan programme, set up 10 years ago, is a long-term research and development (R&D) project by the government in the global race to master future technologies, which have and will likely continue to create highly lucrative commercial uses in many industries ranging from medicine to cosmetics and even entertainment.
“Take the thumbdrive, for example. It was first developed for space use because astronauts needed something compact to store large amounts of data,” said Faiz.
He listed various other examples of space technologies which have been taken by the private sector and translated into everyday commercial items for public consumption and are today often taken for granted, such as carbon fibres, a super lightweight but strong material used in computers and cars because they do not damage easily.
“If I had to sum it up, I'd say the Angkasawan programme is like that line in the movie ‘Transformers’, 'more than meets the eye',” the 29-year-old offered.
Faiz explained that the "glamorous" ride into space is only 10 per cent of the actual work involved.
The other 90 per cent of the work takes place on the ground and behind prying eyes and is carried out by scientists from some 10 local institutions of higher learning.
“An angkasawan is just a data collector,” he said lightly, earning a scoff from Saidov who commented that the young man was playing down his role.
The older man explained that the space industry, while often a collaborative effort among nations, also deals with information that is held highly sensitive by each country because it can be misused by enemy states.
He noted military operations which took advantage of ground data sent by satellite as among the key concerns.
Saidov said there were also intellectual property concerns as each nation has its own way to research certain theories and experiments, which is why it sends out its own astronauts, as the country's representative, to perform the tests at the next level, which is in space.
“You would want control over your own work,” he said, adding that a lot of groundwork needed to be completed before any space mission could be carried out.
Such groundwork eats up a large chunk of the spaceman's time as it involves prosaic labour such as poring over research manuscripts, negotiating with local and international scientists on what and how to carry out the experiments, doing the practical lab tests and most importantly establishing the legal rights.
“The future of the space programme in Malaysia depends on the public understanding this 90 per cent.
“It's not about sending Faiz to space and calling it a day. It's not a matter of whether he will go or not, but how it requires him to do so,” he stressed.
Next week, the duo will be off to Kota Kinabalu to join a group of scientists and students to talk about the findings of the tests from the first Malaysian space mission, based on research in a micro-gravity environment.
And next month, Faiz will return to Russia to take part in the next round of activities involving more experiments of “our” scientists at selected space-research organisations.
“Our first series of ground experiments under this programme is scheduled to kick off in March, in Moscow,” he said.
“As the proposals have already been prepared and submitted from our side, with little time left, we need to discuss some of the methodologies, equipment and resources required in the project and synchronise our timeline with other parties involved,” he added.
Faiz will also visit several educational centres, including the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre at Star City, to discuss furthering his studies in medical research and “space exploration for peace.”
“This coming December, the Russians are also scheduled to launch the new crew which includes a Japanese astronaut and the return of the current crew from the International Space Station,” he said, looking forward eagerly to the follow-up activities.
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