Interview de Faiz Khaleed, Ankgasan (cosmonaute de Malaisie)

Le Dr Faiz Khaleed est médecin-stomatologiste de la Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF).

En 2006, il est sélectionné comme l’un des 2 Angkasawan, avec Sheikh Muszaphar, par l’Agence Nationale Spatiale de Malaisie.

A ce titre, il participe à la mission Soyouz TMA-11 comme doublure de Sheikh Muszaphar en 2007.

Interview réalisé en 2010

QUESTIONS TO FAIZ KHALEED ABOUT HIS COSMONAUT EXPERIENCE AND COSMONAUT BACKUP WORK FOR SOYUZ TMA-11

Why have you decide to become Angkasawan (cosmonaut)? What is your background ?

I choose to be an Angkasawan because venturing into space science and space industry have a huge effect in the development of science, technology, innovation, creativity and intervention of a country. And I would like to do that as a contribution to my country.

How did you feel when you have learned your selection as Angkasawan ?

I was thrilled, very surprised and very happy upon getting selected as an Angkasawan.

What did you think about your training? Have you one or many unforgettable moment(s) for you during the training you can tell us ?

I strongly feel that training as a Cosmonaut at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow, Russia give me a wider perspective of life, enrich me with tremendous space science knowledge and a positive character building qualities.

There are many unforgettable moments during my training. Perhaps the one that I could recall most as for now is the Weightlessness Training. That was my first experience of micro-gravity and its so unbelievable how flying-without-wings feel like. Its amazing !!!

What exactly your work as Backup for the space mission Soyuz TMA-11 ?

My responsibility as a back-up crew is the same as the primary crew, that is to ensure the smoothness of the mission on the part of the Angkasawan. In case the primary Angkasawan could not execute the mission for some reason, its my responsibility to ensure the mission will go on.

What were some of the problems you encountered and how did you fixed them ?

Of course there's a lot of challenges during the training but thats the whole idea of going to Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. To learn, identify the challenges and to do it right for the mission.

Personally, the main challenge at first was to understand and speak Russian Language. Its a beautiful language but a difficult language.

Once you get the hang of it, it gets very interesting and it made me want to learn more.

I never stopped learning Russian language ever since.

What is your favourite space object ?

Space object ? That would be comets and meteor shower. They look beautiful with the burning tail.

Did you think it’s important for the Mankind to have people go to space ?

I certainly think its important for mankind to strive more then they already have, continue pushing the limits and also explore the unknown to further understand the universe around us. So yes, I do think its important for mankind to go to space and beyond.