Planetarium Negara

Behind the blue dome are the exhibition halls and learning spaces of the national planetarium. Visitors began to be admitted here in May nineteen ninety-three: under one roof, how the sky works was explained and lectures and classes for schoolchildren were held. The complex staff also observed the Earth from space and studied the atmosphere. The planetarium was conceived as a place where space science would become part of education throughout Malaysia.

A blue twenty-meter dome covers a two-hundred-seat theater. This complex also contains a ground-based radio station with the call sign “9M2RPN.” In October two thousand seven, schoolchildren took turns sitting by its microphone. Their interlocutor was on the International Space Station.

The radio station came here thanks to Mazlan Othman, Malaysia’s first astrophysicist. In the nineteen eighties, she taught at the National University of Malaysia and developed an astrophysics program there. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad conceived a nationwide center for space education, and in nineteen ninety Mazlan was seconded to his department: she was to organize the Planetarium Division from scratch and oversee construction.

Visitors began to be admitted here in May nineteen ninety-three. Under the dome, the movement of celestial bodies was shown, while the halls hosted exhibitions, lectures, and classes for schoolchildren. At the same time, staff conducted remote sensing of the Earth and atmospheric research. The Planetarium Division was also transformed into the Space Science Studies Division. Thus, the word “National” in its name referred to its mission: from here, the public was to be educated and local specialists trained for the whole country.

Later, Mazlan headed the government-established National Space Agency (ANGKASA), to which the planetarium was also transferred. She proposed a program to send the first Malaysian astronaut into space and wanted to take part in the selection herself. The prime minister pointed out a conflict: Mazlan set the requirements for candidates and could not compete under rules she had made herself. She could have left her post and applied, but decided to see the program through to the flight.

From more than eleven thousand applicants, they selected the orthopedic surgeon Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. After training in Russia, he departed for the International Space Station on October tenth, two thousand seven, where he conducted experiments prepared by Malaysian universities. Schoolchildren in Kuala Lumpur asked him by radio what everyday life in weightlessness was like. Sheikh Muszaphar answered from orbit through the radio station at this planetarium, then returned safely to Earth.

The call sign “9M2RPN” remains. It is the only amateur radio station in Malaysia permitted to hold direct sessions with the crew of the International Space Station. In October two thousand twenty-four, ten schoolchildren spent about ten minutes here at the microphone, asking questions of astronaut Sunita Williams.