Malaysia must be really doing well! The shuttle hasn’t even come back yet and the govt has already made plans to send another flight participant space tourist astronaut up.

“Captain doctor Faiz Khaleed will be the primary angkasawan and the next mission, probably in 2008 or 2009, should have him doing more challenging tasks,” Jamaluddin said according to the New Straits Times.

“This could involve him doing a space walk or conducting repairs to the spacecraft,” he said.

“I hope to submit a proposal to NASA (the US space administration) by this year that in addition to his training with the Russian Space Agency, Dr. Faiz will also be able to undergo training with them,” he said.

A space walk may be “challenging”, but really, how does it justify spending another RM100mil? And how on earth do they already know that the spacecraft will need repairs?! Sounds like the next mission will be more like a massive photo-op.

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