SYNOPSIS

The history of mankind took a turn with the success of the Wright Brother’s flight at Kitty Hawk on 17 Dec 1903. With the advancement of engineering and technology, mankind continued the endeavour in search of flights beyond earth. The exploration of outer space presents an enormous number of challenges not only due to the limited scientific knowledge about space exploration but also the ability to send the cosmonauts safely to outer space and return to earth with the wealth of knowledge for further advancement of mankind. Physicists, orbital mechanics mathematicians, engineers, engineering technologist and engineering technician were involved right from the design of the space vehicle to space flight mission and complex system reliabilities. Cosmonauts as one of the team members of each mission, also plays an important role to ensure the success of each space mission. In this webinar, the speaker will share her experience on her Malaysian cosmonaut selection program and training. She shares views on the challenges and attributes required to be selected for cosmonaut and how engineering continues to support the space exploration program.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Vanajah Siva (PhD) is a Malaysian engineer and one of the finalist of the Malaysian  Angkasawan program , a program to send a Malaysian to the International Space Station. She was the only woman among four finalists who outlasted 11,000 other Malaysians that applied for the astronaut selection process in 2003. She is one of the finalists who were sent to Moscow for selection by the Russian Space Agency. She was a quality engineer in a manufacturing company in Klang, Selangor. Currently she is an Assistant Professor and Program Manager at Jönköping University’s (Sweden) School of Engineering at a department called the Supply Chain & Operations Management. She teaches courses  related to Quality Management and Engineering