ASTRONAUT HOPES TO FORM "ISLAMIC SPACE AGENCY"

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 (Bernama) -- National astronaut Dr Sheikh Muszaphar
Shukor said Sunday his main mission this year is to gather all the nine Muslim
astronauts worldwide to form an Islamic Space Agency.

He said he had already met Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan bin Salman bin
Abdulaziz Al Saud, to discuss how to form the agency when he performed the haj
in Mecca last year.

Prince Sultan is a retired officer in the Royal Saudi Air Force and a former
astronaut. He is a grandson of King Ibn Saud and is the only Saudi citizen to
travel in space and the first Muslim to do so.

"I hope more Muslim astronauts will travel in space and more Muslim
aerospace experts can meet and contribute in the fields of science and
technology," he told Bernama after a Batek Modelling exhibition in conjunction
with Chinese New year 2009 at the Galeri Seri Endon.

On another related matter, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar said he had also met the
Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovations, Fadillah Yusof to
clarify on the allegation that he had amassed wealth from giving talks on his
space experience and was waiting for a response whether his contract with the
ministry would be continued.

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was alleged to have charged a fee of RM8,000 per
hour for his talks and had amassed RM1.2 million from 150 companies upon his
return from the International Space Station (ISS) in October last year.
-- BERNAMA