Malaysian astronaut Muszaphar Shukor was the ninth Muslim to travel to space, in an attempt to perform daily prayers from there. Shukor blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 10, 2007.
The 47 years old was selected from 11,000 other Malaysian candidates for the mission.
“Islam is very lenient. If I can’t fast in space I can always come back and do it at a later time,” Shukor told reporters before leaving Earth.
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Malaysian Astronaut Muszaphar Shukor[/caption]
Shukor's journey to space
In October 2007, Shukor spent 11 days in space. He launched the ISS aboard "Soyuz TMA-11" with the "Expedition 16" crew.
"The biggest challenge I faced, was performing prayers and fasting in space," he said, pointing out that the journey coincided with the last few days of Ramadan that year.
"The sun rises and sets every 45 minutes, which made praying five times a day very difficult," he added.
How did Shukor perform his daily prayers?
It was hard for Shukor to carry out different physical postures in space with zero gravity. Shukor faced many challenges until he came up with the idea of tying his feet down to avoid overturning during prayers.
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