NO PLANS TO BUY SOYUZ SPACE CAPSULE - MINISTER

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 (Bernama) -- The government has no plans to buy the
Soyuz space capsule that took Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha to the
International Space Station (ISS) last year.

"The proposal has been dropped as the Soyuz purchase will be costly and of
little benefit to us," Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Maximus
Ongkili said in reply to a supplementary question by Senator Azizah Abd Samad in
Dewan Negara (Senate) here Wednesday.

He said astronaut Dr Sheikh Muszaphar had conducted three studies namely
"cells in space", "protein in space" and "microbe in space" on behalf of
Malaysian universities and institutions, namely Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
(UKM), Universiti Institut Teknologi Mara (Uitm), Institut Perubatan Penerbangan
Tentera, the Health Ministry and other research agencies.

"A workshop was held in August to coordinate results of the studies and
several patents had also been received. More studies will be done with the
cooperation of the ISS and the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos)."

To the original question by Azizah who wanted to about about the second
astronaut programme to send Major Dr Faiz Khaled into space, Ongkili said the
government had agreed in principle.

"However, no allocation had been set aside for the second astronaut
programme. The ministry is studying its direct return to the local industry and
national economy."

Ongkili said the decision on whether to send a second astronaut in 2011 or
not would depend on the nation's financial situation and the Cabinet.
-- BERNAMA