KUALA LUMPUR: "I am very excited to have another pair of twins because my dream is to have many children," said Malaysia's Angkasawan, Datuk Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha.
This morning, he and his wife, Datin Dr Halina Mohd Yunos, 39, welcomed their latest pair of twins.
Dr Halina, 39, gave birth to a baby boy at 9.47am followed by a baby girl a minute later at the Sunway Medical Centre.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar, 48, and his wife have four children, and the twins now make it six.
In his joy, he said he has plans to have a seventh child but would need to convince his wife for that.
"I love children and it is my dream to have a lot of kids. I want to be able to guide the little ones just the way I was brought up myself.
"Besides, there is an advantage of having many children. Although raising them when they are young can be a bit difficult, but later when we grow old, we won't feel so lonely. That is also why I am now planning to have a seventh child," he said when quoted by Harian Metro.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar said his four other children were very anxious to see their younger brother and sister.
"For now, I am the only one allowed to visit my wife and the twins in the hospital because of the Covid-19 situation."
He said his wife is recovering well from delivery and if there were no other complications, she would probably be discharged on Sunday.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar has been blessed with a pair of twin sons, Sheikh Adam and Sheikh Noah who are now three years old.
The couple also have two daughters, Sophea Isabella, 9, and Sophea Natasha, 7.
Dr Sheikh Muszaphar, an orthopaedic surgeon, became the first Malaysian in space when when he was chosen from a comprehensive selection process to board the Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station (ISS) on Oct 10, 2007.
On Sept 25 that same year, the then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
declared him as Malaysia's first astronaut/cosmonaut.
He was among three other finalists selected for the Malaysian Angkasawan spaceflight programme in early 2006.