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THE Russian federal space agency has made an offer to Malaysia to send a second astronaut to the International Space Station in late 2010 or 2011.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said Malaysia had until 2009 to confirm its undertaking of a second space mission.
He said a decision to send another Malaysian into space depended on the benefits such an endeavour would provide and the costs involved, as the next one would have to be funded directly by the government.
The first mission, which took Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor to space to conduct scientific experiments aboard the ISS, was paid indirectly through an offset deal involving Malaysia's purchase of 18 Sukhoi fighter jets.
If Malaysia decided to go with the second space mission, Dr Muszaphar's back-up cosmonaut, Dr Faiz Khaleed, would be the next to go, Datuk Seri Najib said.
The centre monitored the landing of the Soyuz spacecraft on Sunday at 6.37pm Malaysian time in Arkylk, Kazakhstan, that brought Dr Muszaphar and Russians Fyodor Yurchikin and Oleg Kotov, back to earth.
Datuk Seri Najib said Malaysia and Russia would sign an agreement for a long-term civil space exploration programme, which would allow Dr Faiz to continue training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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