Is the USA an incapable nation?

I had to ask. One fact prompted me to do so. The USA, at this time, has no means to send astronauts into space. It is entirely dependent on paying the Russians for the privilege of hitching a ride on its spacecraft. This, to me, seems a very humbling fact.

It is the 50^th anniversary of John Glenn’s adventure in space. One would have expected, that, after the passage of 50 years, America would truly have become a spacefaring nation. But no...it seems to be in retreat, in some respects. Fifty years ago, America had the means to send a man into space. Now, they don’t. That is quite a striking fact. Something, clearly, is wrong with modern America.

Let us talk a look at the situation. NASA and America knew for a long time, that the shuttle was to be retired. They knew when it would be retired. Yet, what they did not do, was to ensure that a replacement was ready in time for that retirement. This seems to be a failure of planning, of foresight and, perhaps, the willingness to fund such a replacement. Ultimately, it is a failure of America as a nation.

Everyone imagines that NASA has a huge budget. There is a common assumption that vast sums are being spent on space. However, the true figures are very much smaller. NASA recently announced a 17.7 billion dollar budget request for 2013. My immediate reaction to that: “How pathetic!” It is a miniscule budget compared to the supposed wealth and status of the American nation. The truth is such a small budget (compared to the 3 or 4 trillion spent on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) shows, with overwhelming clarity, that space is simply not a priority, interest or asset of the United States of America. It shows us that space faring is being neglected, indeed, largely ignored. So small is NASA’s budget and the American commitment to space, that the wealth of a few individual billionaires, would be enough to sustain the present level of expenditure, indefinitely. That is nothing.

America was once a great nation – or at least, seemed great. I don’t, however, believe that it is, any longer. The very fact that America is no longer a space faring nation, indicates a precipitous decline in its capabilities and willingness to maintain capabilities. That can only mean that there are profound problems elsewhere that are distracting attention from space efforts.

It seems likely that, in a few decades, another nation will be the world’s leading space nation. That nation could very well be China. If so, America has only one entity to blame: itself. America is wilfully throwing away its lead in the space arena, simply by not caring enough to maintain it. That is emblematic of a nation in decline, a nation that has lost it pride and its ability to sustain its historical advantages.

America is fast becoming an incapable nation – a has been State. I wonder whether it will be seen, in another fifty years time, as the UK is now: a shadow of its former self, a once great power, hanging on to the vestiges of its position, through international tradition alone?

We shall see. What is for certain, however, is that whilst America neglects space and the attendant technologies required to attain it, other nations are forging ahead. The history of space travel was once an American province. The future of space travel is likely to be of a very different origin.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

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If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

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Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

The value of the Human Race.

How much is the human race worth? By this, I mean, how much is it worth expending, to ensure the long term security and longevity of the human race? I ask this question, because the powers that be, in the world's leading nations, don't seem to be asking it. Look, for instance, at the question of space colonization, as it has recently been debated. Many commentators have balked at the price of spreading human kind into the solar system. They speak of the billions required, as if they are a total waste of money that would be better put to use building mansions for the elite. Never, for a moment, do they pause to reflect what colonizing space means. It means, quite simply this: the immortality of Mankind. Should we never colonize space, Mankind is doomed to extinction. Only if we colonize space, will Mankind have a long term future. Thus, it is, that any analyst should look at any proposal for space colonization with this question in mind: "How much is it worth to save the Human Race from extincition?". They should not consider the expenditure required as throwing money away - for in doing so, they are buying something very valuable: the future of Mankind.

At present, American politicians don't seem to think the long term survival of Mankind is worth the investment of billions of dollars. Personally, I don't think the long term survival of such politicians is worthwhile. If your local politician does not support space colonization, do your bit for the long term survival of Mankind - by voting him out of office. Only a short sighted moron thinks that space colonization is expensive. On the contrary, space colonization is cheap at ANY price - for it ensures the survival of Mankind - and that, to my mind is worth an untold number of billions of dollars - certainly it is worth a lot more than the 3 trillion dollars spent killing people of a different religious persuasion in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Let us save Mankind from extinction. Let us colonize space, in our lifetimes. Judge your local politician accordingly.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

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Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Newt Gingrich's moonbase plan.

Newt Gingrich has pledged to build an American lunar base – or moonbase, as it is more popularly known – by 2020, if he is elected. This is both an ambitious plan and a necessary one, if Americans are to maintain a lead in space, technology and, potentially, energy production.
There are problems with this plan, however. One issue is that America, on the retirement of the shuttle, has no launch vehicle of its own, at least for several years and is reliant on hitching a ride on Russian spacecraft, for now, and, in future, on private ones under development. America is not really a space faring nation at this time. Another issue is that it takes much time to research and develop new spacecraft and new missions, of any real scale. Though under George Bush, NASA spent 9 billion dollars looking a lunar visit. There is no doubt more work pertaining to a moonbase, yet to be done. A spacecraft capable of lunar trips would have to be designed and built. That is a lot to get done in just eight years.

There are other issues too. The Russians and the Chinese both have been speaking of putting together moonbases of their own – the Russians wish to do so, in cooperation with the US. So, there is a certain urgency if America is to get there first. If Newt Gingrich is not elected President, it is unlikely that America will win that particular race. After all, President Obama, with his typical lack of vision, cancelled Bush’s Constellation programme which had planned to take man back to the moon. Obama, it seems, doesn’t see the value in such things. So if Obama is elected again, America’s space plans will have to be decidedly more prosaic for the time being. (Though oddly, Obama did suggest that America forget the moon and go to an asteroid and Mars instead...a much greater ambition, requiring much greater funding. I think, perhaps, he doesn’t fully understand the details of this, since funding concerns was one of the reasons he cancelled the Constellation programme).

Many people have reacted to Newt Gingrich’s proposed moonbase, as if he is off his trolley. He has been buried in scorn from many quarters. Yet, there is nothing impossible about his dream – except perhaps the timescale. Were America to actually fund this proposal, it would happen, in due course. A moonbase is well within our technical capabilities. Indeed, Newt Gingrich is to be admired for having such a vision for America. Without visionary politicians, the future of the world will look rather dull. It is those with vision, who craft a future worth seeing. So I applaud his guts in stating what seems to most, such a visionary near future. I found even more telling about the scale of his vision, when he remarked that once 13,000 Americans were living on the moon, that they could apply to become another state of the USA! How about that for ambitious?
There is something here, that has not been brought up in the discussions about Gingrich’s lunar dream. It is essential, for the long term survival of man, that there be a second location for humanity, other than Earth. It is inevitable that the Earth will face a large scale catastrophe again, as it has in the past. The history of Earth, is a history of extinction...mass extinctions. Indeed, Mankind is precipitating His own mass extinction through carelessness, as I write. One day, Mankind may face extinction on Earth, through a natural catastrophe or a man-made disaster. It is imperative that humanity has a “back up”. Were there a lunar civilization which had got to the point of being self-sustaining, then Mankind would survive an earthly extinction event.

So, though I doubt he is considering the issue, Newt Gingrich’s vision for a permanent lunar base, is one that could not be more important. A lunar base would almost guarantee the long term survival of the human race, by giving us a second chance in the event of mass catastrophe. To be viable as a backup for humanity the lunar base would have to be quite large, with a minimum population of 150 of mixed sexes. This is the smallest number likely to allow long term breeding of the population without too much inbreeding. (If I recall correctly from past reading).

Thus, Newt Gingrich’s view of a new state, with 13,000 Americans resident, would be sufficient to provide a genetic backup to the majority of Mankind, being large enough to store a wide range of genetic variants. It would allow humanity to survive the unforeseen disasters that lie ahead of us.

What if America is led by a man without a vision for space or humanity, like President Obama or his ilk? Then we can expect that China or perhaps Russia will create such a moonbase first. Indeed, without the necessary vision, perhaps America will forego such a base. My reaction to this is perhaps not what you might expect. I would rather that there were a Chinese moonbase, than no moonbase at all. At least, in the event of catastrophe a subset of Mankind would survive, rather than none at all. Thus, it is an advance for humanity, even if only China establishes a moonbase.

It is my hope that a new space race of a kind will ignite, with America vying to get to the moon and form a base, before the Chinese (with the US perhaps working with the Russians) and vice versa. If such a sense of competition is established, it would provoke the competing nations into making the necessary commitment of resources to the task, such that it will actually happen.
One thing that politicians balk at is the cost of a moonbase. I have seen a low estimate of 35 billion dollars to establish the base and 7.35 billion dollars to run it annually. I have also seen one estimate of 700 billion dollars. Whichever it is, I am struck by the strangeness of the thought processes of those who hesitate before such costs – because of one thing: they have no reluctance to commit to spending multi-TRILLIONS of dollars in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – but stall at spending much less on space colonization. It seems that, in America, money is always available to kill people, but not to save the long term future of Mankind.

It is time for Man to take the long term view. We need space colonies if we are to survive as a race. There is no alternative to this. There can be no indefinite survival on Earth, alone. So let us go out into space, and colonize as many worlds as we can in our solar system, and many others.
I am an outsider to American politics. I don’t know that much about Newt Gingrich. Yet, it would be interesting to see him actually become President and strive to put American’s on the moon – permanently. That would certainly make 2020 a year to remember...for all Mankind.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Lunar water and the future of man in Space.

NASA has discovered lunar water...and lots of it. This is both good news and potentially bad news. I shall explain.

On October 9th 2009, a mission involving the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, LCROSS discovered 25 gallons of water in a plume of dust kicked up, one mile into space, by an empty rocket hull smashing into the Cabeus crater. The crater had been chosen because it is permanently shadowed, at its position near the South Pole: the sun never gets the chance to heat it up and evaporate its contents.

Now, the good part of this news is clear. It seems certain, now, that there is plenty of water on the moon, in such permanently shadowed places. Therefore, a moon base could be established much more cheaply than otherwise would be possible. The water for drinking would not have to be lifted into space - and so too, could rocket fuel be manufactured in situ. The moon is a much more viable location for a permanent base than ever had been thought, before. Yet, there is a danger here. The new attractiveness and relative cheapness of the moon might distract Mankind from a much better prospect: Mars.

Should a permanent base be established on the moon, it may be that Man might delay, for a time too long to contemplate, the establishment of a colony on Mars. The red planet offers a lot more to humans than the Moon ever could. Mars could be terraformed, over centuries, into a new home for Man. The moon could never be that, however much easier it might be to establish a base, now. The moon is not, and could never be, a second Earth. Mars, however, is a few clever technologies from being a second Earth. We need a second Earth, much more than we need a permanent moon base - and if the latter were to prevent the former from happening, then we really should consider whether a moon base should ever happen at all.

NASA's resources are finite. They are, in fact, very modest (about 18 billion dollars per year). Thus, space exploration has not been prioritized by the Americans for some decades. Were its resources greater, then a moon base and a mars base would both be within reach, in the next couple of decades. However, it lacks the money presently for either. The economic danger this new discovery presents is that it might persuade NASA's paymasters to support a moon base...which is now going to be much cheaper than expected...but NOT a Mars mission, which remains as expensive as ever.

Ideally, we should have both a moon base and a Martian presence. However, if we are only to have one: it should be Mars that we open up, not the moon.

The answer to this, of course, is not to force NASA to make difficult choices - but to give it the money it needs. As I have noted before, the long-term survival of Mankind depends on us getting "offworld". Man needs to establish offworld colonies if it is to ensure its own survival to the far reaches of time. That, in fact, should be the true mission of NASA: the survival of Mankind. Were NASA to define itself in those terms - and were its paymasters to take that mission seriously - then Mankind could breathe a little more easily that it has a future to look forward to.

If the discovery of water on the Moon is used wisely, as a means to facilitate new missions, then that is good. However, it must not become a long-term distraction from what should be NASA's real aim: establishing an ongoing human presence on Mars.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to:http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

The Future of The Human Race

Do people care about the future of the Human race? Is it something to which intelligent people give thought?

Now, one would think so. One would think that no concern could, ultimately, be greater, for those who are intelligent, than that the race of which we are each but one, individual member, should have a long-term future. Yet, such supposition might be in error.

Yesterday, I found myself in a conversation with a number of professional men, in their thirties and forties. They were in respectable demanding jobs in such areas as finance, marketing and public relations. They were, therefore, considered to be intelligent, given the responsible and sometimes complex nature of their work. They were all, also, financially successful. Somehow the topic of the colonization of other planets came up. I spoke in its favour. To my surprise, EVERYONE THERE was against it.

"Why would anyone want to go to Mars?" said one scoffing professional.

"Well, because if all of mankind lives on one planet, eventually something will happen, and we will become extinct."

"I couldn't care less.", he retorted, somewhat harshly, his eyes seeming to mock me for caring about something so unimportant as the future of the Human race.

Seeing my way forward blocked in his unmoving eyes, I turned for support to the man standing next to me, a financier of some kind.

"If we don't colonize other planets, there is no chance of mankind surviving long term."

"I couldn't give a f*** about the human race!", he said, his face a little too close to mine, his voice rather aggressive in holding such an opinion.

I couldn't believe it. Here was a body of men who cared nothing for the future of the human race. One other, who did not speak directly to me, looked on, throughout, laughing each time I spoke of the need for Man to spread into space, to ensure its survival. I was surrounded by profound skeptics regarding the worth of Mankind.

I tried to explain it to them in simple terms. "It is just like anything else." I began, quietly, but firmly. "You don't put all your eggs in one basket. Thus, you can't have all of Mankind on one dirt ball...just like you wouldn't put all your money with Madoff." I added, mindful of the financial background of more than half of my audience.

The one who couldn't give a f*** about the future of the human race then scoffed: "Just give me one reason why anyone should go to Mars."

Well, economic arguments are something these people are likely to understand, I thought. "Well, it is much easier and more economically feasible to mine the asteroid belt using Mars as a base, than Earth. Then you could ship a huge amount of metals to Earth."

"Why would you want to do that?", he persisted, no reason being good enough for him. "We already have a huge amount of metals and no-one wants them. Have you seen the prices on the commodities market?"

Again, his thoughts were limited to money as the only justification for anything.

"That is a temporary economic situation. You could use the metals to make things."

"So you could increase the productive capacity of the Earth." he noted.

"Yes."

"What would you make?"

"Well, you could make lots of spaceships and spread outwards...", I said, somewhat deliberately, so as to challenge his world view, perhaps to needle him a little.

"We have a different viewpoint.", he concluded, trying to end the discussion.

I had one final point.

"You could use the materials to build solar power stations, giving cheap energy, much more energy than we presently have."

"For where?", he said, not caring about anywhere else but: "For Earth?"

"Yes."

"I think we use too much energy already."

"This would give us lots of cheap energy."

At this point, one of the others chipped in. He was involved in marketing.

"Have you ever been to Hawaii?", his eyes peered intently at me, like a cat waiting for a mouse to come out of its hole.

"No."

He seemed gratified: the mouse was out.

"Well, if you had, you wouldn't want to go to Mars. It is just beautiful."

"I didn't say I would go...but I think some people should. It should be colonized."

"What would they do there? Living in a bubble."

"They would terraform it. That would be their job."

He wasn't convinced.

"How would they do that?"

"Well they could release CFCs into the atmosphere this would cause global warming, which would promote the release of CO2, as the caps melted, which would promote more global warming and so on."

"And you are going to grow forests?", he mocked ever so sure of his position.

"Not at first, but eventually. You would have to start with lower life forms."

"Lichen." he acknowledged.

"Yes. That would start the process of making oxygen."

"Who would want to go to Mars?", he doubted.

"Lots of scientists would love to go."

"That is the problem." He said with a strange certainty, since I couldn't see any problem at all.

"Plenty of science has been done on this. The science is there...but the political will is not."

"Thank God for that." he said, a little louder, gratified.

I wasn't going to argue this one, when surrounded by a room of skeptics - but I was glad to have raised the topic, for it gave me an appreciation of a problem that I had not known existed: those who think about the long-term future of the Human race will be faced with opposition from a seeming majority of people who JUST DON'T CARE about the future of the Human race. That surprised me.

Having considered it, I would say that it is a property of a mature human mind, that such a person should be concerned about the long term future of both the Earth and the Human race. Absence of such a concern indicates, to my mind, an immaturity of mind - for the level has not been reached at which the person is thinking beyond their own needs and concerns, the level at which they think beyond the narrow confines of their own life and lifetime.

This group of professional men had not reached the level of inner growth that would allow them to be concerned about the long-term future of the Human race. They were still stuck on the immediate concerns of their own life (indeed, almost exclusively on the question of "How rich am I going to get?")

I hope, for the sake of the future of the Human race that such short-sighted attitudes as I encountered yesterday are rare. Even if they are not, such uncaring attitudes should not be allowed to influence policy. Major decisions affecting the future of Earth and the Human race should only be made by those who value the continuation of both.

Mankind needs to colonize space if it is to survive. It won't do so, as long as the short-term thinking I encountered yesterday predominates. Nothing could be more important to us all, than that the human enterprise endures, as long as the Universe does. We should, therefore, take all steps necessary to give Mankind such a chance to endure. The colonization of space is one such critical step.

I, for one, hope that it occurs in my lifetime. I would like to know that Mankind was not captive on one planet and at the mercy of its fate.

Thus, I look forward to what is to come: the Space race between the USA and China, to return to the Moon and to go to Mars, beyond that (at least the USA intends to visit Mars). I only hope that they stay when they get there. There is a world to build. Americans have done it once...why not do it again?

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

Malaysia's First Astronaut in Space

A 35-year-old Muslim doctor, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, is aboard the International Space Station for an 11 day visit. He is not only the first Malaysian in space, but the first Muslim to celebrate Ramadan in orbit.

It feels strange to write those words above, because I am living in Singapore. Of the two nations, Malaysia and Singapore, the latter has always prided itself on being the more advanced, the more modern, the more "together" of the two - yet it is a Malaysian who is in space, today, not a Singaporean. This is one first that Singapore will never, now, be able to claim. Perhaps, one day, there will be a Singaporean in space. It would be good to see. Who knows, maybe Singapore will have its own space authority, one day. However, today is Malaysia's triumph - and the Malays'.

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, who is an ortopaedic surgeon and University lecturer, took off from Baikonur space station, in Kazakstan with two other astronauts, US Commander Peggy Whitson and Russian Yuri Malenchenko, both space veterans. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor was selected from an amazing 11,000 candidates, in a deal with Russia over a $1billion purchase of jets. The canny Malays bargained their way into space as part of the purchase deal. That bit of political manouevering has won them a place in Space history, as far as South-East Asia and the Muslim world are concerned.

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor's colleagues will be staying in space for a full six month stint. His words prior to lift off echoed Irish American astronaut Neil Armstrong's when he said: "It is a small step for me, but a giant leap for Malaysia". He promised to share his experience with all Malaysians - and Muslims - on his return.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)