Korean Astronaut Program
Encyclopedia
The Korean Astronaut Program was an initiative by the South Korea
n government to send the first Korean into space via the Russian space program.
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On December 25, 2006, two candidates, one woman and one man, were selected by South Korea during a ceremony held at SBS television center in Dungchon-dong, Seoul. This choice was the result of a comprehensive selection process which started with the screening of 36,000 applications.
This winning pair was sent to Russia early 2007 to undergo a 15-month training course at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow.
On September 5, 2007, Ko San was named as the prime candidate, whilst Yi So-yeon served as his backup. However, on March 10, 2008 it was announced that the prime candidate was changed to Yi So-yeon due to several violations of training protocol by Ko San. Ko San served as backup.
On April 8, 2008 Yi So-yeon
took off from the Baikonur http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7335874.stm space center in Kazakhstan at 11:16 GMT aboard Soyuz TMA-12
. She spent ten days conducting scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station.
It cost South Korea approximately 26 billion won (28 million USD) to pay for the training and spaceflight.
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n government to send the first Korean into space via the Russian space program.
Program overview
- Ko SanKo SanKo San is a South Korean researcher at the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology.Ko was born in Busan. His father died when he was a boy, and his mother raised Ko and his sister. A graduate of Hanyoung Foreign Language High School, Ko went on to study mathematics at Seoul National University...
(30, male, unmarried, researcher at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology) - Yi So-yeonYi So-yeonYi So-yeon is a South Korean scientist and Ph.D. graduate of KAIST . On April 8, 2008, she became the first Korean and the second Asian woman to fly in space, after Chiaki Mukai.-Biography:Yi So-yeon was born to father Yi Gil-soo...
(28, female, unmarried, researcher at the KAISTKAISTKAIST , is located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first research oriented science and engineering institution. The QS-The Times World University Rankings in the year of 2009 placed KAIST 69th overall and 21st in...
)
This winning pair was sent to Russia early 2007 to undergo a 15-month training course at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow.
On September 5, 2007, Ko San was named as the prime candidate, whilst Yi So-yeon served as his backup. However, on March 10, 2008 it was announced that the prime candidate was changed to Yi So-yeon due to several violations of training protocol by Ko San. Ko San served as backup.
On April 8, 2008 Yi So-yeon
Yi So-yeon
Yi So-yeon is a South Korean scientist and Ph.D. graduate of KAIST . On April 8, 2008, she became the first Korean and the second Asian woman to fly in space, after Chiaki Mukai.-Biography:Yi So-yeon was born to father Yi Gil-soo...
took off from the Baikonur http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7335874.stm space center in Kazakhstan at 11:16 GMT aboard Soyuz TMA-12
Soyuz TMA-12
Soyuz TMA-12 was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station which was launched by a Soyuz FG rocket at 11:16 UTC on 8 April 2008. It docked to the Pirs module of the station on 10 April 2008. Landing occurred at 03:37 on 24 October...
. She spent ten days conducting scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station.
It cost South Korea approximately 26 billion won (28 million USD) to pay for the training and spaceflight.
Other finalists
The eight other finalists were:- Park Ji-young (23, female, master's course student at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and TechnologyKAISTKAIST , is located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first research oriented science and engineering institution. The QS-The Times World University Rankings in the year of 2009 placed KAIST 69th overall and 21st in...
) http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/candidates/english/park_ji-young.htm - Yun Seok-oh (29, male, unmarried, official at Hanyang UniversityHanyang UniversityHanyang University is one of the most prestigious universities in South Korea. In particular, Hanyang's School of Engineering is one of the oldest engineering schools in Korea. The main campus is Hanyang University at Seoul, located in the Seoul, with its branch campus, the ERICA campus , located...
) http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/candidates/english/yoon_seok-oh.htm - Lee Jin-young (36, male, married, squadron leader at Republic of Korea Air ForceRepublic of Korea Air ForceThe Republic of Korea Air Force is the air force of South Korea...
) http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/candidates/english/lee_jin-young.htm - Jang Joon-sung (25, male, unmarried, lieutenant at BucheonBucheonBucheon is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It is sandwiched between Incheon and Seoul. Manufacturing operations are located in the city.Bucheon promotes itself as the cultural centre of the Seoul Metropolitan Area...
Nambu Police Station) http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/candidates/english/jang_jun-seong.htm - Ryu Jeong-won (33, male, married, chief technology officer at IT Magic Co.) http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/candidates/english/ryu_jeong-won.htm
- Lee Han-gyu (33, male, unmarried, researcher at SamsungSamsung GroupThe Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
SDI) http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/candidates/english/lee_han-gyu.htm - Choi Ah-jeong (24, female, unmarried, master's course student at Seoul National UniversitySeoul National UniversitySeoul National University , colloquially known in Korean as Seoul-dae , is a national research university in Seoul, Korea, ranked 24th in the world in publications in an analysis of data from the Science Citation Index, 7th in Asia and 42nd in the world by the 2011 QS World University Rankings...
) http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/candidates/english/choi_ah-jeong.htm - Kim Young-min (33, male, married, researcher at Korea Basic Science Institute) http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/candidates/english/kim_young-min.htm