KUALA LUMPUR: He may have been to space and back, but the birth of Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha’s twin boys, has him over the moon.
The arrival of the twins also proved a double joy for the household, as it was also his birthday.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar, who is Malaysia’s first ever astronaut, could barely contain his joy as he announced the news on his Facebook page today.
“Thank you for all the birthday wishes. We are grateful to receive the arrival of our twin boys this morning at 10.05 am (yesterday),” he wrote.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar and his wife, Datin Dr Halina Mohd Yunos have two older daughters, Sophea Isabella and Sophea Natasha, aged 6 and 4, respectively. The astronaut and Dr Halina were married in 2010.
In 2007, the orthopaedic surgeon became Malaysia’s first astronaut after he was chosen to board the Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) where he spent nine days in space to conduct scientific experiments there.