S. Vanajah, 35, and three
Malay men will be sent to the Russian Space Agency in Moscow soon to undergo
medical and technical tests that will determine who will take part in a
scientific expedition on board the orbital station in 2007.
The other finalists are
Malaysia Airlines pilot Mohammed Faiz Kamaluddin, 34; army dentist Faiz
Khaleed, 26; and Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, a 34-year-old hospital medical
officer, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak announced.
Vanajah, who outlasted more
than 11,000 other Malaysians who applied for the astronaut selection process in
2003, made national headlines last month when she was named as the only woman
in a shortlist of eight people remaining in the competition.
Ethnic Indians comprise
about 8 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people. The other three shortlisted
candidates are from the majority Malay community.
Vanajah has previously said
she hopes to inspire other Malaysian women to participate in science-related
projects, saying her achievement proved that women could compete alongside men
in rigorous trials.
The finalists have endured
a battery of physical and psychological examinations, and officials said the
remaining four were chosen on the basis of physical fitness, personality and
preparedness, including family support.
The upcoming two-week round
of tests in Russia - meant to examine the finalists' neurological fitness and
ability to adapt to a weightless environment - will whittle their ranks to two
candidates, each of whom will undergo 18 months of training at the Russian Space Agency.
But only one will have the
chance to spend up to 10 days in October 2007 in a planned scientific
expedition aboard the ISS, officials have said.
Officials have estimated
Malaysia's space program will ultimately cost around US$25 million (euro20
million), but it will be offset as part of a US$900 million (euro750 million)
defense deal struck with Moscow in 2003 to buy 18 Sukhoi Su-30 MKM fighter jets.
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