A rose by any other name....

With barely 2 days to go before Aidilfitri, there is plenty of reason to explain the festive mood in the air. At the same time, the entire nation was also consumed with the excitement of the first Malaysian in space. And call him whatever you wish, astronaut, research cosmonaut, space flight participant, Dr Sheikh is still every bit a national hero by now. Young girls, and not so young ones like me have swooned over him for so many months now and when the official announcement was made it was no longer a surprise. After all, most people understood the deal from the beginning, that he was the primary candidate.

Having said that, from the documentaries aired on Ch 588 that featured both of them, I feel Capt Faiz is just as ready and exuded just as much confidence.

Last nite, like hundreds and thousands of Malaysians from all over, we watched the lift-off with much anticipation. I cannot even begin to imagine the thoughts that were running through his parents’ mind at the exact same moment. I am just one out of a million watching and It was nerve wrecking, to say the least. The Challenger disaster occurred when I was in my late teens and although I was not in front of the tv to watch it happen, like many others I remember it well. And as I watched the Soyuz last nite I could not help but feel anxious. Thankfully the space shuttle lifted off into orbit without a glitch as we all witnessed a great moment in history….and made me very proud to be Malaysian.

Our 6 yo was the one who was the most excited. He had been bringing newspaper clippings of the launch to school and was thoroughly excited when watching the space launch last nite. He was glued to the tv from the beginning of the KLCC event and stood up at the star for Negaraku (but of course…) and held his hands up during the doa. He pestered his dad to also perform the solat hajat and was very serious when he said his prayers, “Ya Allah, pls make sure Dr Sheikh Muzaphar is safe..” I could hardly believe my ears, my precious was so into it..! At countdown to liftoff he was really really excited!

We were not entirely surprised by his enthusiasm because after all he had always been fascinated with space and planets. Even a couple years ago, as a 4 plus year old he was able to name all 9 planets and could tell you which planet is the biggest, smallest, with rocks etc. Even I still can’t remember! You think I may have a budding astronaut? God knows. Frankly I would rather he have both feet firmly on the ground – literally..!

In the meantime, my hopes and wishes right now are for a safe mission for our good doctor. Deep inside I wonder what things will be like when my son looks back at this historic day decades from now. Maybe then NASA will no longer have any qualms on the term to be used for our Malaysian rep on space missions.