Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) recounted Tuesday how they tucked into Malaysian home cooking to mark the end of Ramadan this weekend.

"I shared my Malaysian food with the crew. I'm happy and I'm glad that they liked my food and I feel at home," said Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, the first Malaysian in space, in a video link-up with mission control outside Moscow.

Peggy Whitson, who is set to become the first female commander of the ISS from Friday, said the exotic offering went down well on the permanently manned station.

"We really liked the Malaysian food. My favorite was dried mango," she said.

Whitson said she didn't expect to be needing a fierce-looking whip given to her as a gift just before take-off October 10 from the Baikonur base in ex-Soviet Kazakhstan.

"I haven't had to use my whip yet. These guys are great. It's been great working with them, they're true professionals," she said, laughing.

Thanking the PM

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also finally got his wish to speak to angkasawan Sheikh Muszaphar when connection was established with the ISS via video-conferencing from Astro's Studio 7 at 9pm today.

"I still want to wish you Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri and also on behalf of my wife and the people of Malaysia as I couldn't do it the other day due to a transmission problem," said Abdullah.

Bernama reported that the premier was excited to see Sheikh Muszaphar floating as he spoke to the Prime Minister from the ISS.

The 15-minute video conferencing saw Abdullah posing a number of questions to Sheikh Muszaphar with regards to his health, conditions on space and his experiments.

"Now that you are in the space station, do you feel that the training given in Russia was adequate or you would have wished for additional training," asked Abdullah.

Sheikh Muszaphar, who thanked the Prime Minister and Malaysians, replied that it was his seventh day in space and that the training in Russia was a big help in making his mission a success.

Meanwhile, Abdullah's wife Jeanne asked Sheikh Muszaphar whether he was eating well and enjoying the food he had taken with him and wished him a safe homecoming.