How does an Islamic astronaut face Mecca in orbit?

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | 10/10/07 | Bettina Gartner

[KevinDavis]

Allah is watching – even in outer space. And that poses a problem for a devout Muslim astronaut who is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian rocket this week.

Imagine trying to pray five times a day in zero gravity while having to face an ever-shifting Mecca hundreds of miles below. How do you ritually wash yourself without water? And, now that it's Ramadan, how do you fast from sunrise to sunset when you see a sunrise and a sunset every 90 minutes? Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, a Malaysian astronaut, must decide before the Oct. 10 launch.

"I am Islamic," Sheikh Shukor told a press conference in Moscow, according to the Associated Press, "but my main priority is more of conducting experiments."

[KevinDavis]

[jdm]

"but my main priority is more of conducting experiments."

Uh oh, you know what that usually means.

[wastedyears]

Let him point through the atmosphere at 20,000mph.

[neodad]

How does an Islamic astronaut face Mecca in orbit?

Um. . . . down?

[Joe 6-pack]

"How do you ritually wash yourself without water?"

Seems to me a whole bunch of terrestrial moslems have found a way to do it without soap....

[doc1019]

Shove his butt out the hatch and let him pray in any direction he wants to.

[brityank]

Who cares? Allah/Satan is not worthy.

[editor-surveyor]

"How does an Islamic astronaut face Mecca in orbit?"

By slowly rocking back and forth in his chair while looking up!

[Old Sarge]

Ali Bin Kaboomie should spend the whole mission duct-taped to the bulkhead, so he can’t touch the airlock or the fuel cells.

[meanie monster]

lol

[Swordmaker]

You’ve heard, perhaps, of the Whirling Dervish?

[Eye of Unk]

By using a Lazy Susan?

[Reaganesque]

Well, this calls for a multi-billion dollar research program to create an unnecessarily complex device that will allow orbiting Muslims to always be pointed at Mecca. I’m thinking a GPS compatible, gyro-stablized, RCS propelled, smart rug.

[Eye of Unk]

A real entrepreneur would sell these to Muslim Asstronaughts.

[pandoraou812]

lmao ping

[cowboyway]

If this were in the USA, the left wing nuts would be demanding the postponement of all missions until the muzzies could be accommodated.

[weegee]

In space, no one can hear you fart.

[SunkenCiv]

Face first, from straight above, after he’s kicked out the hatch?

[Monkey Face]

Yepper...he can do it any way he wants to, once he’s launched from the shuttle.