Malaysia plans a tea party in space!

Sepang (Malaysia): Malaysia plans to push the boundaries of space travel, by making a cup of tea.

Malaysia will send its first astronaut into the heavens aboard a Russian rocket next year and attempt for the first time to make the nation's favourite hot drink, teh tarik, in space.

"The physics experiment is to see what happens to teh tarik in space," head of Malaysia's astronaut selection programme, Haniff Omar, said in all seriousness on Monday after two Malaysian men were short-listed to make the trip.

Making teh tarik (pulled tea) can be tricky and dangerous, even with the help of gravity.

Malaysians pour boiling-hot milky tea swiftly and repeatedly from one vessel held high in one hand into another held low, producing a distinctive layer of froth.

Making teh tarik in space would bring Malaysian customs to the attention of a worldwide audience, said one of the two astronaut candidates, Faiz Khaleed.

Russia offered Malaysia a free trip into space aboard a Soyuz spacecraft three years ago to sweeten the $900-million sale of Russian-made fighter planes.

Nearly 12,000 Malaysians applied for the chance to be an astronaut, and 894 men and women were picked for the first selection round of fitness tests.

On Monday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi named medical doctor Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Faiz, a military dentist, as the two finalists.

Russian space experts will pick one of the two men to go into orbit on September 2 next year.