Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar is not the first Malaysian in space?

STAR CITY, Russia - Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar got the shock of his life yesterday when he was told that he was actually the second Malaysian to make it into space.

Dr. Muszaphar who spent 10 days, 21 hours and 16 minutes at the International Space Station (ISS) returned safely to earth on Monday despite being 340km off the designated landing site. The Soyuz TMA-10 craft landed on the Steppes of Arkylk in Kazakhstan at 6.37 Malaysian time and all on board members including the Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov were reported to be in good health. "It's incredible, I always thought I was the first!" said the subdued Dr. Muszaphar after the revelation.



For the record, the first Malaysian in space was Ayah Pin (pic below), a resident of Besut in Terengganu. Ayah Pin regularly commutes to his Sky Kingdom beyond the earth's orbit so if anyone can brag to be the first Malaysian in space, he can. When asked of his mode of transportation Ayah Pin casually replied: "I use my giant tea pot of course, why do you think I build it in the first place?".