Malaysian astronaut to throw tea party in space

[djspinnet]

SEPANG, Malaysia (Reuters) - Malaysia plans to push the boundaries of space travel, by making a cup of tea.

Malaysia will send its first astronaut into the heavens aboard a Russian rocket next year and attempt for the first time to make the nation's favorite hot drink, teh tarik, in space.

"The physics experiment is to see what happens to teh tarik in space," Haniff Omar, head of Malaysia's astronaut selection program, told reporters in all seriousness on Monday after two Malaysian men were short-listed to make the trip.

Making teh tarik (pulled tea) can be tricky and dangerous, even with the help of gravity. Malaysians pour boiling-hot milky tea swiftly and repeatedly from one vessel held high in one hand into another held low, producing a distinctive layer of froth.

Making teh tarik in space would bring Malaysian customs to the attention of a worldwide audience, said Faiz Khaleed, one of the two astronaut candidates.

"Teh tarik is one of the symbols of Malaysia," he said. "I think this is a good idea also to bring something from our country so the world can learn something about our country."

Russia offered Malaysia a free trip into space aboard a Soyuz spacecraft three years ago to sweeten the $900-million sale of Russian-made fighter planes.

Nearly 12,000 Malaysians applied for the chance to be an astronaut, and 894 men and women were picked for the first selection round of fitness tests.

On Monday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi named medical doctor Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Faiz, a military dentist, as the two finalists. Russian space experts will pick one of the two men, both Muslims, to go into orbit on September 2 next year.

The chosen candidate will not become the first Muslim to travel to space. That position is held by Saudi Arabia's prince Sultan bin Salman, who went into space in 1985 on board the space shuttle Discovery, along with six U.S. and French colleagues.

Oh. My. Gosh. They don't realize the liquid will just float around in zero gravity and they have no control over the teh tarik???

From: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/arti...A-SPACE-DC.XML

[PsYkHoTiK]

Will the russians stand for that? o_0

[zy]

russians will be smarter.. bottle the "Teh Tarik" & just shake it..

[djspinnet]

Originally Posted by zy

russians will be smarter.. bottle the "Teh Tarik" & just shake it..

Haha, reminds me of the American vs russian astronaut jokes.. on how the NASA put in so much money to create a pen that will work in zero gravity and not have the ink float around inside the pen... the russians used a pencil.

But still.. of all the research the malaysian astronauts can do, they decided to just attempt to make teh tarik.

[decypher]

It just shows how hard local astronauts try to make their mark in space. I agree with Jinny that Malaysian astronauts should do something bigger than just making teh tarik. What would other people think? "They went up there just to make tea? Oh it's their local tea. LOOK IT'S FLOATING AROUND. AHA THE TEA GOT HIS SUIT, THAT'S GONNA STAIN! ROTFLMAO!"

Damn it. We will look so pariah. Why don't they make nasi lemak as well?

Symbol of Malaysia my foot. I'll rather have M'sianauts stick our flag on Jupiter than spilling tea in outer space.

Maybe aliens can get a feel of our local specialty? Could get some unexpected visits too. Cool.

[djspinnet]

Originally Posted by decypher

Damn it. We will look so pariah. Why don't they make nasi lemak as well?

Symbol of Malaysia my foot. I'll rather have M'sianauts stick our flag on Jupiter than spilling tea in outer space.

Maybe aliens can get a feel of our local specialty? Could get some unexpected visits too. Cool.

Ahh, maybe they should try tossing roti canai too

And whille they're at that, since Egypt refused to grant Malaysia permission to drape the Malaysia flag over the pyramids, so we'll drape it over Olympus Mons in the moon instead

Oh, and all these will go into the Malaysia Book of Records. Sad.

[decypher]

Malaysia Book of Records.

Gah.

Yes it's sad. It's like Malaysians want to get into the Book of World Records so much but they can't. So they made their own Book.

Gah.

Longest teh tarik. Who the fruit wants to know?!

[djspinnet]

Originally Posted by decypher

Malaysia Book of Records.

Gah.

Yes it's sad. It's like Malaysians want to get into the Book of World Records so much but they can't. So they made their own Book.

Gah.

Longest teh tarik. Who the fruit wants to know?!

Actually, I meant that the stuff I mentioned above, like making roti canai or draping the flag over olympus mons, will go into the malaysia book of records as a joke, not that the teh tarik in space will go into the M'sia book of records. Though I have a feeling if they really do it, it would go in.

[decypher]

Why not?

[doraemon]

Originally Posted by djspinnet

Oh. My. Gosh. They don't realize the liquid will just float around in zero gravity and they have no control over the teh tarik???

From: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/arti...A-SPACE-DC.XML

SAY SAY SAY!!

u dunno "MALAYSIA BOLEH"? They sure will make it happen