Besides this being part of the food in space experiment, a project undertaken by Mardi to test Malaysia's capability in preparing food for space, it was also a symbolic gesture. 

In the past, astronauts and cosmonauts of other nationalities had also brought along their local food to be shared. These included Italian pizza and French cheese. 

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar's task is also to evaluate the food.  

The other crew members who consumed the food would be asked to fill up a questionnaire as part of the evaluation. 

The food are all compressed and made suitable for the ISS environment. 

"So far, everything is great, everyone is fine and very helpful. It’s nice in an international community for a Malaysian to work with the Russians and Americans," he said in his first conversation with Prof A. Rahman A. Jamal. 

He said the crew members had on the first day familiarised him with the ISS, "especially where the toilet is." 

On his meals, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar said the ISS was like a five-star hotel and the food was good.  

He said he felt that he looked "fat in space". 

Dr Sheikh Muszpahar also passed on a message to his family. "Tell my mum especially not to worry about me," he said. 

He also wished all Malaysians Selamat Hari Raya and promised to make Malaysia proud.

National Space Agency director-general Datuk Mazlan Othman and the students from SM Vivekananda Brickfields chatted with Dr Sheikh Muszaphar via a radio link from the planetarium’s satellite ground station. 

"I needed some time to adapt at the ISS and now I am very comfortable," he said, adding that he had satay, rendang and nasi beryiani in space for Hari Raya as planned.

The students took turns to ask Dr Sheikh questions for 10 minutes when they managed to get connected at 1.17am today. 

The station at the planetarium had been given permission by the Amateur Radio International Space Station and the Communication and Multimedia Malaysia Commission to contact him through radio frequency. 

Live communication sessions will also be held with SK Bukit Damansara students in Kuala Lumpur (Oct 17, 12.28am), Sekolah Sri Bestari in Petaling Jaya (Oct 18, 11.39pm) and SMK Kiaramas in Persiaran Duta Emas (Oct 20, 10.50pm).

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor said: "Everything is fine. I'm in good shape."

He also requested his family not to worry about him.

"Selamat Hari Raya to everyone. Please tell my mum that everything's fine and that she needn't worry. I'm all right."

Dr Muszaphar was speaking last night from the International Space Station to Angkasawan programme director Col Dr Zulkeffeli Mat Jusoh.

He said this in reply to Dr Zulkeffeli's query about his health and if everything was fine aboard the ISS.

However, the scheduled 10-minute window for communication between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Dr Muszaphar did not materialise due to a technical glitch.

It was later established that the problem was due to a fault at the Mission Control Centre, 31km from Moscow.

Another replacement slot has been given for another link-up with Malaysia tomorrow from 9.04pm to 9.16pm Malaysian time.

In Putrajaya, Debra Chong reports that Abdullah and wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah were seated and prepared for the video conference from their home in Seri Perdana but had to make do with an impromptu interview with the television anchor instead.

A video conference is only possible when the ISS is in orbit directly above Russia. This happens once every 90 minutes. Due to transmission problems between Mission Control and Malaysia, the time slot was missed.

Abdullah said he had wanted to wish Dr Muszaphar "Selamat Hari Raya" and to ask him how the scientific experiments were going.

"I wanted to ask him if he had started the experiments. He is not in space to enjoy the view of Earth below but has duties to fulfil while at the International Space Station," Abdullah said.

He said Malaysia might not have the capacity to build its own spacecraft but would continue to join the space programmes of other countries to gain experience and do research.

"It is a big step towards becoming a developed country, which we will be in 2020, and we have to take this step now and not wait for 10 years or it will be too late," he said.

Also present was Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis.

The video conference was to have started at 8.20pm. It was scheduled to be aired over RTM TV1, TV3 and Astro.

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson arrived at the International Space Station Friday to begin her tenure as the first woman to command a station mission. Whitson, Soyuz Commander and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko and Malaysian Spaceflight Participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor docked their Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft to the station at 10:50 a.m. EDT. The crew launched on Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Whitson officially will become the station commander after a ceremony Friday, Oct. 19, at approximately 3:15 p.m. EDT. This change of command event will mark the formal handover of the station to Whitson and Malenchenko, just days before the Expedition 15 crew members and Shukor depart.

"I think it's special that I get the opportunity to play that role," Whitson said when asked about being the first woman station commander. "But I think it's also special to have an opportunity to demonstrate how many other women also work at NASA."

Another female astronaut, space shuttle Discovery Commander Pam Melroy, will reach another milestone in late October when she and her crew arrive at the station. It will mark the first time two women have led space missions at the same time.

To familiarize themselves with station systems and procedures, Expedition 16's Whitson and Malenchenko will conduct more than a week of handover activities with Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov and Expedition 15 and 16 Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson. Whitson and two other crew members will perform three spacewalks during Expedition 16 to prepare the station for the activation of the Harmony node. The Expedition 16 spacewalks also will prepare for the relocations of Harmony and Pressurized Mating Adapter-2, a docking port.

This is Whitson's second six-month rotation aboard the orbiting complex. She previously served as a flight engineer on Expedition 5 in 2002, when she became NASA's first station science officer, conducting 21 investigations in human and life sciences. During that mission, she also used the station's robotic arm to help add two truss segments to the station's backbone and performed a spacewalk to install debris shielding.

Whitson (pictured above right) was born and raised in Iowa, where at an early age she was inspired by the men who walked on the moon. "I thought 'what a cool job!'"

She decided she wanted to fly in space after graduating from high school, which was the same year they picked the first set of female astronauts. Whitson knew she wanted to work for NASA, if not as an astronaut, then as a scientist.

Whitson received a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and chemistry from Iowa Wesleyan College in 1981 and a doctorate in biochemistry from Rice University in 1985. From 1989 to 1993, Whitson worked as a research biochemist in the Biomedical Operations and Research Branch at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. For the next several years, she held a number of senior positions within NASA until her selection as an astronaut in 1996.

When Whitson returns home in April 2008, she will hold yet another distinction, that of having spent more time in space than any other woman.

A commentator with US space agency Nasa called it "flawless".

Lydin said after checking the seals between the Soyuz and the station's Zarya module, a crew member on the station opened a hatch about 90 minutes after the docking and the trio stepped aboard the station.

Muszaphar will later carry out several experiments.

He will return to Earth on Oct 21.

Earlier, Muszaphar and the crew members communicated with Mission Control. He greeted Malaysians by wishing his parents and family Selamat Hari Raya.

"Selamat Hari Raya to all Malaysians on this historic occasion.

"Everything is all right up here," he added.

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis, watching from Moscow, expressed Malaysia's gratitude to the Russian government and other agencies for making it possible for Malaysia to enter the space club.

"Without your contribution and support, we will not have been able to see a Malaysian in space. We are committed to remaining a permanent member of your (space programme) committee."

Jamaludin added the government was ready to send its second astronaut (Capt Dr Faiz Khaleed) to space, subject to negotiations and conditions set by the Russians.

He said he was made to understand there was a possibility that the second Malaysian astronaut might be sent to space earlier than 2009 in an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft.

"Our astronauts carry the burden and pride of the nation on their shoulder.

"It is the beginning of a new era and our astronauts know their burden on his journey."

He said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak would make an official request to the Russian government on Oct 21 to send the second Mal-aysian into space.

However, a Russian official said it might be difficult to accommodate Malaysia's request in view of the large number of people from various countries waiting to fly to space.

He said Russia was working to upgrade its spacecraft and it welcomed Malaysia's contribution to this purpose.

Dr Muszaphar will remain on the International Space Station for nine days and will conduct experiments on protein crystallisation and microbes.

There are three crew members onboard the ISS.

They are Russians Fyodor Yuchikin (ISS commander and engineer) and Oleg Kotov (medical doctor) and American Clay Anderson (mission specialist).

Whitson and Malechencko will replace Yuchikin and Kotov, who will be returning with Dr Muszaphar.

The crew will depart from the ISS on Oct 21 to land on Earth within two-and-a-half hours of un-docking.

For the landing procedure, the crew will stay in the descent module.

The orbital and instrumentation modules will separate from the descent module and burn up in the atmosphere before re-entry.

The descent module will land in the Kazakhstan desert, where the crew will be received by a recovery team in helicopters.

After a brief health screening, the crew will be flown to Star City, Moscow, for quarantine.

They are expected to remain in Star City for two weeks.

The spacecraft docked on schedule automatic pilot, Russian Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said. It carried the station's new American commander, astronaut Peggy Whitson of Beaconsfield, Iowa, as well as veteran Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor of Malaysian.

"Everything is great," Malenchenko told Mission Control shortly after the docking, which took place about 220 miles over Central Asia. A NASA commentator called it "flawless."

After hatches were opened, the three entered the station, Lyndin said.

Sheikh Muszaphar, 35, has said his roughly 10-day stay on the station should inspire his southeast Asian nation, and Muslims all over the world.

He will perform experiments involving diseases and the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and genes.

The $25 million agreement for a Malaysian astronaut to fly to space was negotiated in 2003 along with a $900 million deal for Malaysia to buy 18 Russian fighter jets.

At the moment the Soyuz-FG rocket blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, "Malaysia became a member of the space community," a Malaysian representative at Mission Control said.

Whitson, 47, is making her second trip to the station and will become its first female commander.

She and Malenchenko will replace two of the station's current crew, cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, who are slated to return to Earth along with Sheikh Muszaphar on Oct. 21 in a Soyuz capsule.

Whitson and Malenchenko, 45, who is on his second voyage to the station and who commanded Russia's Mir space station more than a decade ago, are to be joined later this month by U.S. astronaut Daniel Tani, who is scheduled to arrive on the space shuttle Discovery. Tani will replace fellow American Clayton Anderson, who has been at the station since June.

Anderson, a fan of the University of Nebraska football team, tossed a football in zero gravity before the new crew came aboard NASA video showed.

After Tani's arrival, the station's crew — known as Expedition 16 — will be busy with crucial jobs preparing for expansion of the station, which is set to add European and Japanese modules in the coming months.

Discovery will bring up a connecting mode called Harmony, and the station's crew will perform spacewalks to put it in place for a December shuttle docking and the arrival of the European module, Columbus, NASA's space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier told a news conference at Mission Control.

Peggy Whitson, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Malaysian physician Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor scooted through hatches linking the station with the Soyuz TMA-11 craft they rode into orbit from Russia's launch facility in Kazakhstan.

Good Connection

The Soyuz docked on schedule at 10:50 a.m. EDT after catching up with the station and firing thrusters to get into position, said Valery Lyndin, chief spokesman for Russian Mission Control outside Moscow.

"Everything is great," Malenchenko told Mission Control shortly after the ship locked onto the station about 220 miles over Central Asia. A commentator with the U.S. space agency NASA called the docking "flawless".

Whitson and her crewmates clambered through the hatches about 90 minutes later and joined the station's current crew, cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, and astronaut Clayton Anderson. The newcomers traded their bulky gear for more comfortable jumpsuits and spoke to well-wishers at Mission Control via a video link.

"The fun is just about to begin," Yurchikhin said.

Microgravity Experiments

Sheikh Muszaphar, a 35-year-old orthopedic surgeon fulfilling his own dream of space travel and his country's, was already having fun.

"I feel very well," he said in Russian, grinning as his body shifted in the zero gravity. In English, he said, "I'm having a very good time here with my friends from Russia and America - and my love to all Malaysians out there."

Sheikh Muszaphar will perform experiments involving diseases and the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and genes. The $25 million agreement for a Malaysian astronaut to fly to space was negotiated in 2003 along with a $900 million deal for Malaysia to buy 18 Russian fighter jets.

The ninth Muslim in space, he has said his roughly 10-day stay on the station should inspire his homeland and Muslims all over the world.

Crew Changeover

Whitson, a 47-year-old biochemist from Beaconsfield, Iowa, was selected as an astronaut in 1996 and spent six months on the international space station in 2002. She will formally assume command from Yurchikhin on Oct. 19, Lyndin said.

Showing her space legs, she leaned effortlessly on her elbow despite the zero gravity as she and the others accepted congratulations from Russian and American space officials on Earth.

Whitson and Malenchenko will replace Yurchikhin and Kotov, who are slated to return to Earth along with Sheikh Muszaphar on Oct. 21 in a Soyuz capsule.

Malenchenko, 45, traveled to the international space station on the shuttle Atlantis in 2000 and returned for a six-month stint as its commander in 2003. He spent time on Russia's space station, Mir, more than a decade ago.

He and Whitson are to be joined this month by U.S. astronaut Daniel Tani, who is scheduled to arrive on the shuttle Discovery. Tani will replace Anderson, who has been at the station since June.

Football in Space 

Anderson, a fan of the University of Nebraska football team, tossed a football in zero gravity as the crew prepared to open the hatches, NASA footage showed.

After Tani's arrival, the station's crew - known as Expedition 16 - will prepare for the expansion of the station, which is set to add European and Japanese modules in coming months.

Discovery will bring up a connecting mode called Harmony, and the station's crew will perform space walks to put it in place for a December shuttle docking and the arrival of the European Space Agency module, Columbus, NASA's space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier told reporters at Mission Control after the docking.

"This is Gerst ... it's great to see you guys in orbit," he told the newly arrived crew. "Have some fun and do a lot of great work."

Peggy Whitson, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Malaysian physician Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor scooted through hatches linking the station with the Soyuz TMA-11 craft they rode into orbit from Russia's launch facility in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz docked on schedule at 10:50 a.m. EDT after catching up with the station and firing thrusters to get into position, said Valery Lyndin, chief spokesman for Russian Mission Control outside Moscow.

"Everything is great," Malenchenko told Mission Control shortly after the ship locked onto the station about 220 miles over Central Asia. A commentator with the U.S. space agency NASA called the docking "flawless."

Whitson and her crewmates clambered through the hatches about 90 minutes later and joined the station's current crew, cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, and astronaut Clayton Anderson. The newcomers traded their bulky gear for more comfortable jumpsuits and spoke to well-wishers at Mission Control via a video link.

"The fun is just about to begin," Yurchikhin said.

Sheikh Muszaphar, a 35-year-old orthopedic surgeon fulfilling his own dream of space travel and his country's, was already having fun.

"I feel very well," he said in Russian, grinning as his body shifted in the zero gravity. In English, he said, "I'm having a very good time here with my friends from Russia and America — and my love to all Malaysians out there."

Sheikh Muszapar will perform experiments involving diseases and the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and genes. The $25 million agreement for a Malaysian astronaut to fly to space was negotiated in 2003 along with a $900 million deal for Malaysia to buy 18 Russian fighter jets.

The ninth Muslim in space, he has said his roughly 10-day stay on the station should inspire his homeland and Muslims all over the world.

Whitson, a 47-year-old biochemist from Beaconsfield, Iowa, was selected as an astronaut in 1996 and spent six months on the international space station in 2002. She will formally assume command from Yurchikhin on Oct. 19, Lyndin said.

Showing her space legs, she leaned effortlessly on her elbow despite the zero gravity as she and the others accepted congratulations from Russian and American space officials on Earth.

Whitson and Malenchenko will replace Yurchikhin and Kotov, who are slated to return to Earth along with Sheikh Muszaphar on Oct. 21 in a Soyuz capsule.

Malenchenko, 45, traveled to the international space station on the shuttle Atlantis in 2000 and returned for a six-month stint as its commander in 2003. He spent time on Russia's space station, Mir, more than a decade ago.

He and Whitson are to be joined this month by U.S. astronaut Daniel Tani, who is scheduled to arrive on the shuttle Discovery. Tani will replace Anderson, who has been at the station since June.

Anderson, a fan of the University of Nebraska football team, tossed a football in zero gravity as the crew prepared to open the hatches, NASA footage showed.

After Tani's arrival, the station's crew — known as Expedition 16 — will prepare for the expansion of the station, which is set to add European and Japanese modules in coming months.

Discovery will bring up a connecting mode called Harmony, and the station's crew will perform space walks to put it in place for a December shuttle docking and the arrival of the European Space Agency module, Columbus, NASA's space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier told reporters at Mission Control after the docking.

"This is Gerst ... it's great to see you guys in orbit," he told the newly arrived crew. "Have some fun and do a lot of great work."

American astronaut Peggy Whitson, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Malaysian physician Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor climbed aboard the international space station Friday after a two-day trip from Earth and a textbook docking with the Soyuz TMA-11 craft they rode into orbit from Russia's launch facility in Kazakhstan.

Whitson and her crewmates clambered through the hatches about 90 minutes later and joined the station's current crew, cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, and astronaut Clayton Anderson.

Anderson, a fan of the University of Nebraska football team, tossed a football in zero gravity as the crew prepared to open the hatches, NASA footage showed.

"The Soyuz docked with the ISS (at 1450 GMT)," ground control spokesman Nikolai Kruchkov told AFP. The hatch connecting the Soyuz and ISS was to open at about 1630 GMT, allowing the three to enter the permanently inhabited international space platform.

The new arrivals at the ISS were Malaysia's first astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko and NASA's Peggy Whitson, who will be the first female commander of the station.

They blasted off Wednesday from the Baikonur launch centre that Russia runs in Kazakhstan.

Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis said the aim was to encourage more Malaysians to respond to the search for an Angkasawan.  

"The best women and men will be picked; however this time, the final list will have six candidates. We want more young people, including women, to be interested in becoming cosmonauts."  

"Peggy Whitson (Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor's crew member) is the first woman International Space Station (ISS) commander. Why shouldn't we have a female Angkasawan?" he said.  

He added that as the Government had agreed to the Russian Federal Space Agency's (Roskosmos) offer to send Dr Faiz for a space mission, the quest would be to find him a backup crew member.  

"We will narrow down the search to the final two candidates as secondary crew members and one will be chosen to be Dr Faiz's backup," he told reporters covering the launch of the Soyuz rocket that sent Dr Sheikh Muszaphar and his crew members into space to dock with the ISS . 

Dr Jamaluddin said that with the second space mission endorsed, Malaysia's space quest would not start and end with Dr Sheikh Muszaphar's historic feat. 

In line with this, he said the organisational structure of the National Space Agency (Angkasa) would be restructured with the formation of a special department for the National Space Programme.  

"I will discuss with the EPU (Economic Planning Unit) on funding matters before bringing it to the Cabinet," he said.  

Malaysia's Angkasawan programme is being funded by the Russians under an offset deal for Malaysia's purchase of Sukhoi jets.  

Dr Jamaluddin added that he would need Roskosmos officers to discuss further training for Dr Faiz at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC) and to determine the slots available for him to go to space.  

The Soyuz manned mission is launched twice a year.  

"We are keen to make the space programme an important agenda for cooperation between Malaysia and Russia," he said.  

Furthermore, he added that he would meet officers from Nasa by year's end or early next year to discuss Dr Faiz’s training at Nasa. 

"Dr Sheikh and Dr Faiz have both exceeded Roskosmos' benchmark for cosmonauts," he said. 

Dr Jamaluddin added that he would speak to both agencies on the role that Dr Faiz could play as Malaysia's Angkasawan including getting him to learn and do more things that astronauts and cosmonauts do, such as the space walk and space repair work.  

"We want our space programme to have a new shift. With this, I believe we are making our journey into a new era that will make us a more prosperous nation," he said.

Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu called on the people of various races to take the opportunity to visit their Muslim friends during Hari Raya Aidilfitri. 

"We must inculcate the attitude of mutually respecting the cultural and religious sensitivities of the various races," he said. 

Samy Vellu, who is MIC president, also sent greetings to Malaysia's first Angkasawan Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. 

Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said Malaysians should continue the good relations among the various races to make the country an example to others. 

"We should face the reality that the country can only achieve success and progress when all the races are united to face the increasing challenges ahead," he added. 

Dr Lim also sent his congratulations to Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor.  

Penang Chief Minister and acting Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said Malaysians should be thankful for the nation's 50 years of peace, unity and progress. 

"This year's Aidilfitri is even more meaningful and joyous with the successful launch of Malaysia’s first Angkasawan to space," he said. 

President of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism Datuk A. Vaithilingam said: "Through goodwill and mutual respect, Malaysians will build a nation in harmony with its ethnic and religious plurality which ensures peaceful coexistence and a bright future for all young Malaysians."