The first Korean has gone into space. Carrying South Korea's first astronaut Yi So-yeon (30) and two other astronauts, the Soyuz-FG rocket blasted off successfully from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome or Space Center about 2,100 km southeast of Moscow at 8:16:39 p.m. on Tuesday by Korean standard time.
The Soyuz TMA-12, in which the three astronauts sit shoulder to shoulder, completely separated from the rocket in three stages after eight minutes and 48 seconds. The spacecraft then ignited its own engine to fly at the speed of 1,500m per second and reach its initial orbit of 220 km from Earth nine minutes and 48 seconds after launch.
Rocket & Space Corporation Energia, the manufacturer of the Soyuz rocket, announced the spacecraft entered orbit as scheduled and the launch was successful.
The spacecraft will circle Earth 34 times before docking at the International Space Station 350 km above the Earth's surface at about 10 p.m. on Thursday. At the space station, Yi will perform various activities including 18 scientific experiments and communicate with South Korean students. The spacecraft carrying Yi, American astronaut Peggy Whitson, and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko will land on the vast grasslands north of Kazakhstan at 5:38 p.m. on April 19.
Yi is the 475th astronaut since Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space in 1961. She is the 49th woman astronaut, but only the second woman from Asia after Japan's Chiaki Mukai, who traveled into space in 1994.
Korea Aerospace Research Institute president Paik Hong-yul (58) said, "Korea's space science has taken its first step. We've so far shown interest in the development of satellites and space rockets, but we should pay attention to a manned space probe from now on."
