[Listening: Planetarium - Otsuka Ai ^^ ]

Yesterday was a very. very special day. Many years hence, I feel certain I would still be able to vividly recall the tempest of emotions within me as I watched the Russian Soyuz rocket with Malaysia's first astronaut on board blast off into space. I was so madly joyous that I actually clapped and felt a strong urge to stand up and cheer on the heroes -both in the spotlight and behind the scenes XD

Truly, I felt a cocktail of emotions with the three most prominent sentiments being excitement, anxiety and pride. Even tough it wasn't I who was visiting the ISS, the sense of anticipation was just as strong, as Dr Sheik Muszaphar successfully joined the ranks of one of the world's most elite professions.

And... the blast off was so moving and beautiful! The rocket resembled a brightly illuminating star - shining with the hopes and dreams of hundreds of millions of Malaysians - as it broke through the Earth's orbit.

Watch: http://videos.thestar.com.my/default.aspx?vid=504

Undeniably, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar (lol... everyone says he looks like a movie star XD ) is also one of the lucky handful who get to realize long cherished childhood dreams of having a first class view of Earth while on a space mission.

Hehe... I felt somewhat envious as well, as waaay back when I was quite little, I harboured dreams of being an authority on astronomy and going on missions into space. Of course, that was before I discovered that I'm actually more into the aesthetics of space rather than the cog works =p Furthermore, in the 90s, not many believed that the emergence of a Malaysian astronaut in the near future wasn't merely a pipe dream.

Well, we've done it! ^^ Regardless of what the critics say, the fact still remains that Dr Sheikh Muszaphar is going to be the very first Malaysian to step foot on board the ISS. And no, he won't be spinning gasings but conducting scientific experiments. Go Malaysia!