KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)
-- Muslim-majority Malaysia's first astronaut will get guidelines allowing
flexibility in praying in zero gravity and eating space meals under Islamic
rules, the country space chief said Monday.
The government-prepared
advice is for a Malaysian joining a Russian scientific mission on the
International Space Station in October, Malaysia's National Space Agency chief
Mazlan Othman told The Associated Press.
Officials have previously
said an Islamic code of conduct in space is necessary because few Muslims have
embarked on such expeditions, and there have been no standardized guidelines
for them.
Malaysia's two finalists
for the voyage, Sheikh
Muszaphar Shukor and Faiz Khaleed, are now training in Moscow. They were
selected from more
than 10,000 candidates.
Malaysia held a forum for
Islamic scholars in April 2006 to discuss problems Muslim space travelers might
face, such as pinpointing the Saudi holy city of Mecca, which Muslims are
expected face when they pray five times a day.
The guideline booklet,
published this month, says the direction should be determined "according to the
capability'' of the astronaut.
Those in space during the
holy fasting month of Ramadan -- when Muslims are required to go without food
or water from sunrise to sunset -- can choose to fast then or to make up for it
when they return, the booklet says.
The first Malaysian
astronaut's stint will likely overlap with Ramadan, which starts in
mid-September this year.
If Muslim astronauts doubt
whether a meal is halal, or prepared according to Islamic rules, they "should
consume it only to the extent of restraining hunger,'' the guidelines say.
The astronaut must be
dressed decently whenever in public view, which involves covering at least the
portion of the body between the navel and the knees for men. Both of the
finalists for Malaysia's first astronaut are males.
Maintaining Islamic beliefs
"is mandatory for Muslims in every situation, time and place,'' Mustafa Abdul
Rahman, who heads Malaysia's state-run Department of Islamic Development, said
in the guidelines.
"Circumstances on the ISS
which are different from circumstances on Earth are not an obstacle for an
astronaut to fulfill a Muslim's obligations,'' he said.
Other Muslims who have gone
to space include Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan bin Salman, who went aboard the
U.S. shuttle Discovery in 1985, and Anousheh
Ansari, an Iranian-American telecommunications entrepreneur who went to the
ISS in September 2006.
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