Real Undergraduate Conference 2008 (Part 2 of 4)

Session 2 : Equipping (Soft Skills)

Conference Report

PICC 2008

By Tang Lee Hong, Zulfazlizan, Shahida, Subashini, Abu Husin, Syahir Akmal

Introduction:

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar started with his talk with the introduction about his achievement and experience as Malaysia first astronaut. He is Malaysia first astronaut who was launched to International Space Station aboard Soyuz TMA-11 with the expedition 16 crews on October 10, 2007. Sheikh Muszaphar flew under an agreement with Russia through the Angkasawan program, and returned to Earth on October 21, 2007, aboard Soyuz TMA-10 with the Expedition 15 crew members, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, after nine days aboard the station.

Dr. Sheikh & Russian Crew

Main Content:

After the brief introduction from him, he started with some quotes to motivate the participants. According to him, many people are looking for a good leader, but they need a person who can work well with the team. This statement means that a leader not only needs to be competence solely but have to be able to perform in a team as well. He also mentioned that mental strength is the key to success for a person who leads. Mental strength can be clearly seen from him as the Malaysia first astronaut who is being so determined, fearless, and strong. He shared his experiences where he tried to involve in different fields in order to seek for his real interest. He assured the participants that there is no wrong trying in different fields before we can really find our ultimate life goal.

For him, he has been dreaming to become an astronaut since he was 10 years old. He had been working hard for 15 years to make his dream a realistic now. Again, he told the undergraduates who attended that day there should be no restriction in having ambition in life. When there is a will, there is a way. Dream can be realized if we really work hard towards it. One thing he kept stressing on is to believe in ourselves and not to fear on the obstacles ahead. We must take steps to be brave and motivate ourselves from time to time.

In the middle of the conference, he also mentioned the purpose he goes around whole Malaysia is to inspire more youth as well as young children about the field of astronomy. He always believe that one of the role of leader is to inspire and to aspire people around them and he really hope he is doing the right thing now. His mission of inspiring the rest of Malaysian has been done through the way of sharing his experience in outer space. Basically, he had shared his experience in 3 important parts which include pre-launching, during in space, and post-landing. As he continued, most of the equipping and adapting process had been done before the launching to space. This would include tough army training, anti-gravity training, experiment rehearsal and so on. Process of equipping ourselves no matter in what field is definitely tough, but it is worth as he always reminded himself what he did is for the benefits of the nation.

During in space, he shared his experience on how to carry out his “solat” as a Muslim. Other than that, we also shared his experiences on how to fast in space and celebrate his Ramadhan there. He also told the undergraduates that the foreigners really love Malaysia local delicacies and foods a lot. Aside from that, he touched about his experiments during in ISS. He had been carried out an experiment on the growth of cell and cancer cell in space in order to assist in the medical field on finding the cure for cancer. Other than that, he also shared his feeling when he looks at planet Earth from space. He described it as the most magnificent scene he ever seen in his life and at that moment he can feel the greatness of the universe creator, Allah. By looking at earth as a whole also inspire him to care more about global issues instead of merely country issue. This would include issues like pollution, war, hunger and so on. He also shared stories which everyone curious the most, by telling the audience how he went for toilet.

The memorable moment in his life ended very fast, and day before he leaved the space, he heard azan which can not be heard by others in the ISS. This remind him that it is time to go back to Earth and serve the rest with what he has gained. Now, it is time for him to go around Malaysia and inspire more people as this is not his mission alone but it is the mission of the rest of Malaysians as well. At the same time, he still can feel his passion in medical field and he does not want to neglect it. So, in rotation, we will go back to his work at least 2 times a week. Added to this, he told the rest that it is enjoyable to do whatever we have passion and enthusiasm towards it.

Before he ended his part, he stressed on the importance of staying focus on whatever we convey and be less selfish as we share, the more people benefited from it, the more we gain ourselves as well. We must also be brave, confident, and able to lead. There is one quote from his speech saying “what the mind believes, the body can achieve”. Then, he ended his talk.

Conclusion:

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar had conveyed his message through a very close-to-audience method whereby he inspire through the sharing of experience instead of throwing a bunch of theories to the audience. The talk was very exciting and full with surprise as he shared many special moments in his journey to space. The talk manages to catch most of the audience attention and hopefully it can really inspire more people to follow his path and become the future astronaut of Malaysia. Of course, another great dream is to have our own space rocket and launch centre. This dream can only be realized if there is really a great awareness among Malaysia community and from there we have a group of talented and skillful people. Then only the dream is possible to be realized.