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Malaysian Angkasawan Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor landing on earth is being described as a “soft landing” but he is still going to feel quite a hard jolt upon impact. 

Retired Nasa astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson said although the term “soft landing” was being used, it was not going to be really soft. 

He said a parachute would slow the spacecraft down, and a breaking rocket would fire just before touching the ground, there would still be a jolt when it touched the ground. 

“It is described as a ‘soft landing’, but it’s a fairly hard ‘soft landing’,” he said in an interview. 

The spacecraft would be descending at a speed of over 200m per second and parachutes would slow it down to about 20mps, he said.  

Breaking rockets would slow it down further to 2 to 3mps just before it hits the ground. 

The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Dr Sheikh Muszaphar will be undocking from the International Space Station at 3.15pm Malaysian time. 

At 3.21pm, the Soyuz jets will be fired to begin departure from the ISS, and at about 5.50pm, Soyuz computers will initiate re-entry manoeuvres. 

At 6.20pm, the spacecraft will break into three modules – orbital, instrumentation, and descent. The crew will be in the descent module. 

At 6.23pm, the crew will feel the effects of gravity and parachutes will open.  

They are scheduled to land at 6.30pm in the swampy area of Arkylk in Kazakhstan. Helicopters and amphibious vehicles will pick them up.  

“When Dr Sheikh comes back, he will have had an experience of a lifetime. He’s going to say, ‘I want to go again’.  

“And so we’re going to have to find another trip for him because, believe me, he’s not going to be satisfied with just going just once,” Gibson said. 

KUALA LUMPUR: Master illusionist David Copperfield is coming to town and will be squeezing his six-foot-one frame into a bite-size piece that can fit into a Prada shoebox! 

This feat, called the squeezebox, sees the magician taking liposuction to a whole new level! It is just one of the many spectacular highlights expected at the conjurer’s World of Wonder tour on Oct 30 and 31. 

Copperfield said: “For magic to be relevant, it has to evolve to keep up with, or even surpass, the best film and theatre. 

“The goal of this tour is to take dreams and turn them into reality using nothing but state of the art wizardry. 

“I want to base my work on what people really dream about.  

“Most of us don’t dream of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. But what affects people is realising personal dreams, dreams almost everyone shares and that seem impossible.”  

The illusionist added that World Of Wonder was partly inspired by an unfulfilled wish of his grandfather’s that many share – winning the lottery. 

“We call it an ‘intimate’ evening of grand illusion partly because it’s interactive.  

“In one of the pieces, for example, the audience discovers how to predict lottery numbers that will come up that night. 

“They get to participate in illusions that blur the line between magic and reality,” said the 51-year-old, whose famous feats include making the Statue of Liberty “vanish”, “walking” through the Great Wall of China, “flying” through the air and “floating” over the Grand Canyon.  

The shows will be held at Stadium Negara with two slots each day, at 5pm and 8.30pm. 

For enquiries, call +603-7954 8414.

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搜尋隊伍于今日中午12時05分，在距離刁曼島以南11海里處，尋獲一具屍體，並不排除死者是最后一名失蹤者鐘榮金。

如證實死者是失蹤的鐘榮金，這也意味，“刁曼渡輪失火”事件中的3名失蹤者，已全被尋獲。

在這意外事件中，死亡人數也增至7人，包括事發后的3名失蹤者，即黃雙龍（37歲）、黃漢文（29歲）和鐘榮金（43歲）。

由于搜救隊伍還在進行運載屍體到碼頭的工作，加上尋獲屍體地點與豐盛港碼頭距離甚遠，估計在傍晚5時左右才會上岸。

家人心碎

同時，在家屬還沒認屍情況下，截至目前，仍無法100%確定浮屍就是鐘榮金。

另一方面，關丹海事局執法主任陳國逵證實，搜救隊伍于今日中午12時05分，在距離刁曼島以南11海里處尋獲一具屍體。

這具屍體是由搜救隊伍的飛行組，即一台小型飛機在海面搜尋時發現的。

因在種種因素下，海上大規模的搜尋工作是從事發日算起，僅維持7天，之后則採取監督或放緩方式，留意失蹤者下落。

然而，今日正好是邁入搜尋工作的最后一天，卻意外尋獲疑是最后一名失蹤者的遺體，令失蹤者家人心碎。

之前另兩名失蹤者的遺體也先后被尋獲，如黃雙龍的遺體是在前天（17日）尋獲，而黃漢榮的遺體則在昨天（18日）被尋獲。

ROMPIN: National spaceman Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha, 35, and second choice Kapten Dr Faiz Khaleed will receive recognition to be named as “cosmonauts” from the Russian government in a graduation-like ceremony to be held in Moscow soon. 

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis said the ceremony would be held after Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor returns to the country. 

Dr Jamaluddin hoped that the recognition would stop the debate on the Malaysian space mission. 

“We also plan to send the Dr Faiz to be trained in Nasa for next mission,” Dr Jamaluddin told reporters in a open house held in Dewan Majlis Daerah Rompin. 

He said he would be leaving for the US at end of November to meet Nasa officials to discuss the plan to send Dr Faiz for training for at least a year or six months, depending on the situation. 

Dr Jamaluddin saidDr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor is scheduled to return to the earth on Sunday and undergo “quarantine” for at least a week to neutralise himself with the gravity on earth. 

Mersing ferry tragedy -- Oct 18th update 

MERSING: It was a heart-wrenching scene when the search-and-rescue team brought Wong Han Wen's body back here, with all the flesh from his head gone. 

Only the skull was left attached to the rest of the body which was still intact. 

His family had to identify him from the grey shirt and blue jeans he had worn. 

Han Wen’s body was spotted floating at 11.15am about seven kilometres from Pulau Jahat by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency yesterday. The location was nine nautical miles from where the ferry tragedy took place last Saturday. 

He was the second of three people listed as missing from the Seagull Express 2 which caught fire while en route to Pulau Tioman. 

On Wednesday, the body of Wong Song Leng, 37, was retrieved from the sea about two nautical miles from Pulau Tokong Bahara. 

This brings the official death count from the ferry tragedy to six.  

Another person, Choong Yoong Kim, 43, is still missing. 

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency’s Kuantan enforcement chief Capt (M) Tan Kok Kwee said its boat Kilat 34 spotted Han Wen’s body. 

“We retrieved it from the sea and sent it here,” he told reporters here yesterday. 

He said the search-and-rescue mission, co-ordinated by the agency, would continue until the last missing person was found. 

“We have deployed at least five big boats, seven small boats and a Cessna plane. More than 120 men are taking part in the mission. 

“The team has stepped up operations to locate the third victim,” he said. 

Han Wen’s sister Yuh Jen, 24, and Yuh Ling, 28, together with an uncle, had joined the search on a marine police vessel but returned an hour later. 

They were then told that Han Wen's body had been recovered. They immediately broke down and Yuh Ling almost fainted.  

Han Wen’s father, Wong Yang Seng, 64, remained calm throughout.  

Meanwhile, Song Leng's body ......

KUALA LUMPUR: One was bursting to answer questions while the other seemed introverted.  

Tee Hui Yi excitedly gushed about how she wanted to meet two of her idols: songbird Datuk Siti Nurhaliza and Akademi Fantasia finalist Lotter from Sabah.  

Lang Kong Akon was bashful when National Heart Institute (IJN) mechanical heart programme director Dr Mohd Ezani Mohd Taib ribbed him about being single and wanting to find a life partner.  

Hui Yi and Lang Kong made their first media appearance in IJN yesterday after their respective transplant operations. 

However, 14-year-old Hui Yi and 39-year-old Lang Kong were grateful to their donors and families for having given them a second shot at life.  

“I want to thank the donor and his parents. They have saved my life,” was Lang Kong’s reply while Hui Yi said: “Thank you very much. I am really better.”  

Hui Yi underwent a second heart transplant on Oct 5 after her body rejected the first heart transplant the previous day. 

Lang Kong received his lungs from the donor whose heart Hui Yi’s body had rejected. 

“I want to go back in time to celebrate Chinese New Year,” Hui Yi told reporters at the physiotherapy department.  

She was also impatient to get back to school, saying she wanted to visit as many places as she could once she was discharged. 

Lang Kong said he could breathe much better after the operation. He was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2003.  

He had been on the waiting list for new lungs for more than a year. Prior to the surgery, the machine operator from Sarawak was treated at the Institute of Respiratory Medicine.  

Dr Ezani said Lang Kong was undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation to strengthen his body, breathing and muscles.  

Lang Kong was able to do “very heavy physical exercises” such as climbing stairs and cycling, he added. 

He is in the normal ward and his body has not shown any signs of organ rejection. ......

MERSING: The body of 37-year-old Wong Song Leng was found yesterday, on his birthday according to the Chinese lunar calendar. 

Rescue workers retrieved the body about two nautical miles off Pulau Tokong Bahara. 

A Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (APMM) boat brought the body to Tanjung Gemuk jetty in Rompin, about 40km from here, before it was taken to Mersing Hospital here. 

As the body had decomposed, his family identified him from his green T-shirt and shorts. 

Wong was among 106, including crew members, on board the Seagull Express 2 ferry en route to Pulau Tioman when it caught fire and sank on Saturday.  

Four people died in the incident and three went missing. 

Wong’s wife Seng May Ying had earlier said that she hoped her husband could return home as it was his Chinese birthday. 

APMM Kuantan enforcement chief Tan Kok Kwee said a Cessna plane from the police air unit saw a body at 10.30am yesterday and alerted the agency. 

“A tyre was around the victim’s waist when he was found,” he said, adding that the search would continue for the other two missing men.

KUALA LUMPUR: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is being treated at the National Heart Centre after two operations, is expected to be discharged in a week’s time.

According to his son Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir, his father was impatient to return home because he missed his children, grandchildren and close friends.

“My father’s condition is improving, his appetite is good and he is able to communicate smoothly but his discharge depends on the doctors,” he told reporters at IJN here yesterday.

Dr Mahathir, who is receiving treatment after undergoing a coronary bypass operation on Sept 4 and a second operation on Sept 22, celebrated Hari Raya with his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali, children and grandchildren at IJN.

He and his wife, together with family members, held a Hari Raya gathering for IJN staff and other patients on the first day of Aidilfitri.

MERSING: The families of the three who are still missing from Saturday's ferry tragedy can only pray and hope for the best as the search continues off the coast here. 

Although there was no sign of Choong Yoong Kim, Wong Song Leng and Wong Han Wen, their relatives remain hopeful that they could be alive. 

Choong's wife Wong Soo Cheng and their eldest daughter Zi Wei, together with several relatives held a ceremony at the jetty yesterday evening.  

Soo Cheng and Song Leng are siblings. 

They burnt a letter in Chinese that pleaded the Water God to be merciful and to return their loved ones. 

They also called out Choong's and Song Leng's names before throwing watermelons into the sea. 

“If the watermelon sinks, it is bad luck. If it floats, then we can hope for the best,” Choong's brother Danny said. 

They felt a little relieved as both watermelons floated. 

Danny, who had rushed from Kuala Lumpur, said people told him that the strong tide could have washed them to one of the many nearby islands. 

“This gives us renewed hope that they could have survived,” he added.  

The family members had earlier planned to hold the ceremony at the location where the ferry caught fire but bad weather forced them to change their plans. 

Search and rescue operations by 70 uniformed personnel from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Marine Police, Police Air Wing, Fire and Rescue Department and navy divers resumed at dawn yesterday.  

Operations coordinator Captain Tan Kok Kwee said the team found a life jacket which belonged to the vessel at 2.30pm about 8km from the site of the accident. 

There was, however, no sign of any of those missing. 

Johor Fire and Rescue Department operations assistant director Abdul Hamid S. Abdullah said the canine unit comprising Labradors – Joe, Hardy and Cody – have been brought in to help with the search and rescue.  

He said the dogs had been very......