Take for example the basic act of breathing itself. In zero-G, air has no weight. So, when you exhale, the air you expel, which on Earth would rise since it is warmer than the air around you, would instead, stay around when you are in space. So essentially, you would be inhaling the very same air in your next breath that you just exhaled in your last. The solution? Install air-conditioning with a distinct draft.  

"Questions about our personal hygiene are some of the most popular we have received," writes Dr Faiz Khaleed on the angkasawan blog site, www.angkasawan.com.my/blog/.  

In another entry, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor compile a FAQ (frequently asked questions) of the things most people wanted to know about what living in space would be like.  

Food for Thought 

Most space food is canned, vacuum-packed or freeze-dried and if you think that sounds rather unpalatable, then perhaps you shouldn't see what the "fish in jelly" looks likes (Whiskas, anyone?).

But, surprisingly, the Russians have developed quite a sophisticated menu with tasty-sounding treats like mashed potatoes with garlic, beef in oyster sauce, cottage cheese pudding, chicken in white sauce, apple jam, prunes, Earl Grey tea and much more.  

"Unfortunately, you can't really eat rice onboard the ISS as it might scatter everywhere and destroy equipment," quips Dr. Sheikh. "All food brought on to the ISS has to be examined and certified. We are working on bringing Malaysian food onboard the ISS and I'm hoping it will be ayam masak lemak cili api but I really doubt it." 

Astral Showers 

Do astronauts shower? In a word, no. Water is limited on the ISS and the content of both the 210 litres Rodnik system tank is used mainly as drinking water. These tanks are topped up every three months up by the Progress cargo ship and there is always a 45-day reserve water supply in case of emergency. 

Water is also reclaimed from the air in the ISS with the help of an advanced atmosphere purification system. Every cosmonaut generates 1.5l of water each day through perspiration and these water vapours are absorbed, filtered and then processed to become drinking water.  

So if Singaporeans have New (Toilet) Water, astronauts have New (Sweat) Water.

Doing the Business 

Obviously, as we can see from the images of space we see on TV, human waste doesn't just float around inside spaceships.  

The key here is suction and there's a funnel for storage of urine and a seating toilet with a storage tank to collect waste which is later burnt off when the Progress spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere.  

But you have to make sure that you are strapped in first and that the suction is working, otherwise you might end up floating while halfway through your "business".  

Billion-Star Hotel 

Astronauts sleep in sleeping bags attached to the wall in one of two cabins on the ISS.  

But zero-G isn’t the real bummer in space when it comes to sleeping. Because the sun rises every 90 minutes and the equipment onboard makes as much as up to 70 decibels of noise (about the normal volume of your television set), eyeshades and earplugs are imperative.  

Our angkasawan has yet to book a place he can call his "bed" aboard the ISS when he gets there, but apparently, the docking node is hot property as it has a window which looks out at a spectacular view of the cosmos.  

Fitness First 

Because you are inclined to lose bone density while in space, it is even more important for astronauts to exercise in space than on earth. Losing bone density means the bone becomes brittle and this could lead to osteoporosis and osteopenia. 

Exercise helps minimise the risk of this deterioration. To counter microgravity, there are many different resistance exercise equipment and even a treadmill. A simple jog round the neighbourhood is, unfortunately, out of the question.

Among the things they had to learn was how to change from the Sokol spacesuit into the winter suit inside the cramped space of the capsule. They learnt to build a tepee using wood from the trees and the shuttle's parachute for shelter against the cold (the capsule is too small to store such a luxury!) and how to find and chop wood to build a fire that can last through the night.  

Then the microgravity training began, first with the "Spinning Chair" test, which rotates at about 180 degrees per second. Then came the Aerochamber which gauges how the body copes at high altitudes where oxygen content is thinner and the body can experience hypoxia, drowsiness, delirium and even loss of consciousness as a result.  

Finally, the really fun part ... the Centrifuge which tests the reactions and tolerance to acceleration above those experienced in Earth's gravity. Astronauts can face up to 10Gs of force during the launch or re-entry which is basically 10 times the body weight pressed against the chest. 

June to September 2007 

Space people, apparently, bond over ham radio (amateur radio), so it was an activity which the angkasawan had to learn and then be formally tested on. Because of the relative speed of the ISS in relation to Earth, this means that the ISS crew can only talk a maximum of 10 minutes at a time to a particular location on Earth. If you are one of the thousands of amateur ham radio operators here in Malaysia, you can talk to our angkasawan when he's finally up there (Dr Sheikh Muszaphar's call sign is 9W2MUS, Dr Faiz's 9W2FIZ).  

To get yet another feel of zero gravity, the angkasawan were put on a parabolic flight, or "vomit comet" as it is affectionately known. This is basically a plane going through a series of ascents and descents to simulate the concept of "weightlessness", a process of space adaptation for new astronauts.  

"We had a great time," enthuses Dr Sheikh Muszaphar. "One of the guys curled up like a ball and we 'threw' him around. We even took the Malaysian flag and flew it around. It made me feel so patriotic." 

This, of course, was a breeze compared to some of the other tests. The Water Survival Training was described by Dr Faiz as by far "the most physically demanding." 

Like the Winter Survival Training, this is designed to prepare the astronaut for a splashdown should the Soyuz descent capsule land in water. This is a distinct possibility as water covers two-thirds of the Earth's surface. Should this happen, the angkasawan will have to don an orange-coloured suit called the "Forel" (which means "trout") which is designed to "last forever" in the water and so will negate the risk of drowning.  

But changing from the Sokol suit into the Forel while in the capsule is no laughing matter. Because the suit is designed to keep people alive in Arctic waters for 24 hours, in the cramped conditions of the capsule, there is extreme heat build-up. During training, the health of the astronaut is constantly monitored and medical doctors are at hand as death from heat exhaustion has been known to occur.  

"Think of the hottest sauna session you have been in, multiply that by 10 and you'll get the idea," is how Dr Faiz puts it.  

A trip to NASA is also on the cards. There the angkasawan will learn and experience the differences between the US and Russian space technology which was developed separately during the height of the Space Race in the 1950s and 1960s. The angkasawan have to familiarise themselves with it, as the successful candidate will be conducting experiments on US modules on the ISS.  

At the Johnson Space Centre, the angkasawan can also train for the spacewalk in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab (even though they will not be performing a spacewalk this time) or experience it in the centre's virtual reality lab. And they also get to meet American space legends, past and present.

IMAGINE this – you are high above in the cosmos, suspended weightless in zero gravity. Soon, you get bored of being somewhere with "no atmosphere" so you scrunch your left arm tight against your torso, extend the right arm and make like a superhero swooping down towards Earth.  

Hurtling towards the planet we call home, you break through the clouds as you head towards one of the many suburban houses occupied by your less imaginative and more down-to-earth humans.  

In the living room, the man of the house is watching a football match, telecast live from the opposite side of the globe. The picture and sound are as clear as if the transmitter was just down the road. 

In the dining room, the teenage daughter is using a cordless vacuum cleaner to clean up biscuit crumbs spilt on the carpet.  

Upstairs in one of the bedrooms, her little brother is pumping up the adrenaline as he violently jostles a joystick while killing aliens on the PlayStation 3.  

So what exactly are you imagining? For starters, you were imagining that you were flying. Humans can't fly. Full stop. Not even Superman. He's not real.  

But in that simple little scenario, what's not imaginary are just a few of the things spun off from space exploration that have benefited and enriched our lives.  

Space Age Tech 

In the satellite dish (developed to correct signals coming from craft in space), smoke detector (to detect toxic fumes onboard), cordless tools (to aid Apollo astronauts drill for moon samples) and the joystick (evolved from research to develop a controller for the Apollo Lunar Rover), we have four examples of technologies or materials originally developed for Nasa's space programme and now a common, taken-for-granted part of our daily routines.  

In the quest to soar into space, Man has had to invent many things, and in getting out there, Man has been able to experiment on a plethora of subject matters for useful application back on Earth.  

This is just the tip of the iceberg. And perhaps more importantly, space technology has generated, whether by accident or design, many more important crucial life-saving devices such as medical imaging, fire-fighting equipment, sun tiger glasses (which block almost all wavelengths of radiation) and shock absorbing helmets, to name but a few. (http://spaceplace.nasa.gov) 

One of the more recent illustrative examples of this continuing partnership is the groundbreaking invention of a miniature ventricular-assist device (VAD), which received Nasa's Commercial Invention of the Year in 2002 (www.spaceref.com) and is based in part on the technology used in space shuttle fuel pumps. This device now functions as a long-term "bridge" to a heart transplant and helps patients toward recovery and a more normal life.  

Serious Business 

When our angkasawan enters orbit on Oct 10, he will be conducting scientific experiments as part of his designated programme, fulfilling one of the core goals of this ambitious mission: "To gain knowledge and experience ? and to use this acquisition as a base for Malaysia to develop space science and zero gravity applications." (www.angkasa.com.my)  

The basis of this statement stems from the belief that, in initiating the sending of a man to the moon, the United States rallied its people to gain knowledge so much so that 50 years on, they have become one of the most powerful nations in the world fuelled by this very thirst for knowledge and the inventiveness that goes hand-in-hand with it.  

In order words, conquering new frontiers opened up new economies and hence, new wealth.  

In the new world order, cutting edge technological progress is key to surviving and flourishing in an era of globalisation.  

Although technologies derived from space exploration have been around for a long time, it was only recently that intellectual property issues were raised. This was prompted largely by the shift in space activities from being state-funded projects to becoming private and commercial activities. Heard of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism venture? 

The Mission 

This first Angkasa space mission is a big step in putting Malaysia, if not quite at the forefront, at least in economy class of the flight towards the Final Frontier.  

While in space, the Malaysian astronaut will carry out a "live" physics education class "observing the effects of a spinning object (a gasing)" to illustrate the effects of zero gravity on this physical phenomenon.  

He will not, and I repeat – will not – be tarik-ing tea, nor will he paint batik or play Batu Seremban (five stones).  

Our angkasawan will also conduct scientific experiments like studying the effect of micro gravity and space radiation on eukaryotic cells, the motility of bacteria in space and protein crystallisation. 

What will really excite all food-loving Malaysians is that he will find out what happens to popular Malaysian dishes way out there.  

So while the Angkasa project may not be that "giant leap for mankind", it is, perhaps, one small step towards the inclusion of nasi lemak on the Virgin Galactic's in-flight menu.  

And, if Datuk Tony Fernandes follows with no-frills Space Asia, have RM13,000 handy to pay for a 250g packet! 

Bear in mind it now costs about RM140,000 to lift just 1kg into orbit with today's rockets, and visionaries working on future low-cost technology are aiming to bring it down to "only" RM26,000 per kilo. 

The current generation may be a step closer to vici (conquered) but, really, all that we have achieved is a tenuous toehold, probably less secure than a rock climber's single fingertip in a crack. 

Aside from the six Apollo missions (11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17) that landed on the moon, most of the men and women who went into space in the 20th century did not even stop for a coffee break, much less conquer, outer space.  

That's not to say these were easy or risk-free sightseeing trips. Unlike the missed flights, misplaced luggage or pickpockets that bedevil terrestrial tourists, space mishaps usually have grave consequences.  

To date, 18 people have died in space flight accidents, a further 11 astronauts have died in training mishaps, and launchpad accidents have killed at least 70 ground personnel. 

The hazards of space exploration are, perhaps, best summed up (albeit in fiction) by Rockhound, Steve Buscemi's character in Armageddon, who aptly put things in perspective with: " … we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel … and a thing that has 200,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?" 

But the second wave has edged that bit closer to colonising space. Humankind is in space to stay. The fierce one-upmanship of the Cold War space race has given way to global co-operation on an unprecedented scale, culminating in the International Space Station (ISS). 

The Soviet Union were early pioneers with the Salyut programme, a series of nine single-module space stations launched from 1971 to 1982.  

The Americans were not far behind with Skylab, launched in 1973, and the Spacelab series that were carried aloft in the space shuttles. 

Salyut was a platform for scientists to study the problems of living in space and develop solutions that would pave the way for more ambitious stations such as Mir (Russian for "peace" or “world”) and, ultimately, the ISS. 

Among the challenges that had to be tackled were the difficulties of operating in zero gravity. Human physiology has not evolved to operate in vacuum or weightless environment.  

Mir was the first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space. Conceived as a modular design with various components to be assembled over a number of years from 1986 to 1996, it pioneered construction techniques that have made the ISS possible. 

Mir was continuously occupied for nearly 10 years, until it was brought down from orbit on March 23, 2001, breaking apart during atmospheric re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.  

Aside from groundbreaking technology, Mir lived up to its name by opening up a new era of peaceful international collaboration that gave opportunities to cosmonauts and astronauts from many different countries to experience life in space. 

Space Condo 

The greatest scientists and engineers from 16 nations have combined forces to build the first really sustainable community off the planet’s surface. 

Orbiting at an average altitude of 250 statute miles (402km), it's like being in the penthouse of a condo with 134,110 floors, each storey being the standard 3m high.  

The station can be seen from Earth with the naked eye. It travels at an average speed of 27,744km/h, completing 15.7 orbits per day. 

The completed International Space Station will have a mass of about 471,736kg. It will measure 108m across and 88m long, with over 4,000 square metres of solar panels to provide electrical power to six state-of-the-art laboratories. 

The cost of the ISS, including development, assembly and running costs over a period of at least 10 years, is estimated at 100bil euros (RM480bil).  

It has a pressurised, inhabitable space of about 386 cubic metres. Translated into a typical condo unit down here with an average ceiling height of 3m or 10ft, you'll get a floor area of 1,363 sq ft (125 sq m). For RM352.2mil per sq ft, you don't even get a swimming pool! Are prices for living space in space out of this world or what? 

That's not even counting the costs of the earlier space stations that helped develop the technology which has made the ISS possible.  

One of the main goals of the ISS is to conduct scientific experiments that require one or more of the unusual conditions that can only be found out in space.  

The main fields of research include biology (including biomedical research and biotechnology), physics, astronomy (including cosmology), and meteorology.  

Up to this year, most of the studies have been on the long-term effects of micro-gravity on humans. The goal is to improve understanding of the effects of extended near-weightlessness on the human body.  

Subjects such as muscle atrophy, bone loss, and fluid shifts need to be understood before humans can embark on lengthy space voyages and the next phase of space colonisation.  

The effect of near-weightlessness on evolution, development and growth, and the internal processes of plants and animals are also studied.  

When four new research modules are installed by 2010, more specialised research is expected to begin. 

While the view is great and the crime rate is really low, there are risks. Apart from cosmic hazards such as radiation, solar storms, flares, etc, there is a very real threat from space junk. 

There are "8,927 man-made objects officially tracked, 4 million pounds (nearly 2,000 tonnes) of stuff" in total, an estimated 110,000 objects 1cm and larger (http://www.space.com/spacewatch/space_junk.html), Some of the bits and pieces speed along at 28,000km/h, which is over nine times faster than a modern large-calibre sniper rifle bullet (854m/s or 3,000km/h).  

Domino's can't deliver, you can't just call a radio cab, and the nearest 7-11 is over 400km away.

ON Oct 4, 1957, an aluminium ball 60cm in diameter called Sputnik-1 stunned the world by shooting up through the skies to orbit the earth in the utter silence of outer space, marking the beginning of mankind’s space age.  

In November of the same year, a dog named Laika was taken aboard Sputnik-2 and shot into space to become the first living being to venture into space and orbit the planet, thus paving the way for manned space flight that was to follow.  

The success of the Sputnik missions also marked the beginning of the Space Race – the United States and the Soviet Union carried their political rivalry beyond the earth's horizons in a technological race to be pioneers in space exploration.  

The Sputnik programme whipped the Americans into a frenzy of competition and they responded immediately by launching Explorer-1 in early 1958 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This venture made an immense contribution to science as Explorer-1 carried a Geiger counter that detected belts of intense radiation around the earth.

A people's hero to this day, the then 27-year-old Gagarin orbited the planet on Vostok-1 on April 12, 1961, for a total of 108 minutes. (Gagarin died, aged 34, in a fighter-plane training accident.) 

Meanwhile, the American response came in May 1958 when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (Nasa) Mercury programme sent its first astronaut, Alan Shepard (1923-1998), 186km from the earth's surface aboard Freedom 7 to travel 487km in 15 minutes before returning to earth.  

Although Shepard's was not a full orbit, he did manage to control the spacecraft and manoeuvre the Mercury capsule himself, whereas Gagarin's capsule was under ground control throughout his trip.  

Mercury's seven astronauts in training were feted as national heroes, and they included Shepard, Gus Grissom (1926-1967) and John Glenn (1921-), all of whom were instrumental in the success of the Gemini programme that was to come.  

Not to be outdone, the Soviets launched Vostok-2 in August of the same year to carry Gherman Titov (1935-2000) through 17 orbits and a full 24 hours in space. Later in the month, Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 were launched within 24 hours of each other and passed within 5km of each other in orbit in what is recognised as the first space rendezvous.  

Thanks to the Gemini 12 programme that followed, beginning in 1965, Nasa was able to assess the feasibility of sending multi-crewed spacecraft into space and practice space flight techniques that would ultimately be used to send man to the moon.  

The competition between the two nations was so fierce that the Russians decided to accelerate their own multi-crew test missions and thrust three men into space aboard Voskhod-1 without spacesuits in October 1964! Luckily, they returned safely back to earth. 

The second Voskhod mission in March 1965 achieved another first when cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (1934-) stepped out of his orbiting spacecraft and performed the world's first space walk, floating in space for 10 minutes while tethered to his craft.  

Leonov was also slated to perform the first moonwalk, and as he practised on simulated lunar surfaces in the Soviet Union, American astronaut Neil Armstrong (1930-) was doing the same in the United States. Armstrong would, of course, go on to win this race.  

Before this, the Gemini missions, specifically Gemini-8 up until Gemini-12, successfully saw the first dockings and the first space walks for Nasa, and basically tested the spacecraft and astronauts to their limits in preparation for the Apollo programme that would finally take Armstrong to the moon.  

On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 shuttled Armstrong, Michael Collins (1930-) and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (1930-) to the moon, where Armstrong and Aldrin become the first men to walk on its surface. The rest, as they say, is history. There have been four more voyages to the moon since (Apollo 14-17) with the last taking place in 1972. 

The Apollo 13 mission in 1970, of course, was the one that famously avoid disaster narrowly thanks to Nasa's engineers; the incident was the subject of the eponymous 1995 Ron Howard movie that starred Tom Hanks. 

With the United States having conquered the moon, the Soviet Union switched its attention to the building and maintenance of space stations – orbiting laboratories in which long-term research can be carried out not only on the various possibilities of human life in space but also on how space technology could benefit humankind.  

Early Soviet space stations, including Salyut and Mir, made this possible in the 1970s and 1980s. The Americans, of course, joined that battle, too, launching Skylab in 1973. 

Currently, the International Space Station (ISS) is the most ambitious project, a joint venture between 16 nations. 

The ISS, which represents the cutting edge of space technology, is serviced today by none other than the Soviet Soyuz programme, which began in 1967. 

It's still going strong, having been modified and updated several times. For instance, the Soyuz TM was developed to transport crew to the Mir space station, and currently the Soyuz TMA services the ISS. 

It is to the ISS that one of our two angkasawan, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Al Masrie and Kapt Dr Faiz Khaleed, will be heading.  

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar says the Malaysian angkasawan's role on the station will be crucial because "There are so many scientific experiments to conduct". In the future, he thinks, space station experiments could find the cure for cancer, for osteoporosis and for other diseases, all for the benefit of humankind. 

For Dr Faiz, it is the teamwork that captures his imagination: "The ISS is a joint venture between so many countries, with all their people working together in one place. Space stations are testament to the fact that unity is key to achieving dreams". 

Man's space age has come full circle: born of the fierce competition between two nations, it is now, arguably, the best example of cooperation between the planet's nations.