Sunday, November 11, 2007

the cosmonaut


Juliet said this at the balcony :

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet".

seriously, i've never read any of shakespeare's plays, not even the abridged versions, but i am suitably impressed with some of his more famous quotes. this particular excerpt is self-explanatory. the converse would mean that, if it were not a rose, calling it one would be meaningless as the sweet fragrance is decidedly absent.

the americans call them astronauts. the russians called theirs cosmonauts. if this report is true (read here) , then our erstwhile angkasawan Dr Sheikh is now a full-fledged trained cosmonaut.

sure, as a malaysian, i should be proud that one of ours has finally achieved this sought-after qualification awarded by the Russian National Space Agency, no less! (in chess parlance, the russians would called him Grandmaster).

sure, we as a nation have arrived in the guise of a space-exploring power & are pushing into the frontiers of the galaxies beyond.

i'm really not into the intricate financial & technology-transfer aspects of our space programme but.....err... before the red carpet is rolled out & ticker-tape parade starts, can i just ask one question?

if you were going to space, would you want cosmonaut Dr Sheikh to pilot your shuttle?

4 comments:

iml said...

The funds should have been put to more urgent use on the nation's current social situation instead of an 'endorsement'

doc said...

iml,

how very true!

i read a commentary somewhere that the same amount of fund could have sent 150 students to russia to be trained as doctors.

so, is 1 cosmonaut worth 150 doctors?? i think you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out!!

Alex Tang said...

eh, no. May I have another pilot please

doc said...

alex,

me, too, & preferably someone who knows where the levers & dials are!