Korea's first astronaut is scheduled to lift off for space on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Tuesday at 8:16:27 p.m. Yi So-yeon will conduct 18 experiments during her 10-day experience as the first Korean in space.
After a 50-hour flight, the Soyuz spacecraft will dock at the International Space Station on Thursday. There Yi will conduct several experiments until April 18, one day before she returns to Earth.
The experiments include studies of the germination, growth and mutation of plants in space, the effects of micro-gravity on eye pressure, the effects of a space environment on the heart, and a study on gravitational effects on aging and genes.
Yi will use fruit flies for the latter experiment since their life span is two weeks, making it possible to observe their growth to maturity during her 10-day stay. Having obtained a doctorate in bio and brain engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology last February, Yi is considered well qualified for experiments involving biology, physics, and electronic engineering.
On the ISS, which orbits the Earth at an altitude of 350 km, there is no gravity and even breathing is difficult. It is equipped with only the barest essentials for survival and work in space. A generator at the station electrolyzes water to make oxygen for the astronauts to breath, but they have to carry enough oxygen with them to survive the 50-hour journey to get there.
When it comes to dining, astronauts must live on space food they bring with them. Hundreds of kinds of space foods have been developed in the U.S. and Russia, made by freeze-drying items after they are sterilized by radiation. Yi will bring about a dozen Korean comestibles developed by the Korea Food Research Institute and Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, including rice, kimchi, red pepper paste, soybean paste soup and instant noodles.
Personal life in space isn't easy. Just taking a shower is a challenge in zero gravity since water doesn't fall down. There is a shower device that forces water to flow in one direction, but it's not often used. Astronauts who stay at the space station for just a short while, like Yi, use water towels to wipe themselves.
The astronauts change their underwear in a changing room only once every three days, and they don't do laundry. Their soiled clothes are collected in a special module, along with other garbage they produce, which is then detached from the spacecraft some 120 km above the ground. As it plunges toward Earth, the module burns up in the atmosphere.
Even answering the call of nature in space requires a unique device. Since urine and feces would be splattered in every direction without the force of gravity, a special vacuum tool is used to collect it.
