Malaysians to Vote on First Astronaut

wengkius writes "According to BBC, Malaysians will be voting for their candidate of choice in the nationwide search for an astronaut to be sent to the ISS on board the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. Once its 11,000 would-be astronauts have been whittled down to a handful, their details and updates on their progress will be posted on the internet. If the contest proves popular and the government charges for the votes, it may even be able to cover the cost of its space program."

Comments

"charges for the votes"

[decipher_saint]

Charging for votes seems a bit odd to me; if you wanted to be in space you really could just buy your vote.

Seriously...

[Comatose51]

"The national space agency has already announced plans for a research programme to send the country's favourite foods into orbit and the selection process to find the Malaysian who will taste them in zero gravity is already well advanced."

And some people complain that NASA's manned space program was a waste of money!

"So far, only 200 short listed candidates have managed to run 3.5km (2.2 miles) in under 20 minutes and pass a medical."

Any reasonably healthy person should be able to do that. I know I risk sounding very arrogant but don't send someone into space just for the sake of doing it. Pick someone with high qaulifications and do something useful. It's really a waste of money and an unnecessary risk otherwise.