Korea chose the first astronaut

Korea announced today that Ko San, a 30-year-old robot expert, will be the country's first astronaut to join the Soyuz spacecraft's flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2008.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Chung Yoon said that Ko San is working for the Korean Space Research Institute. Previously, he was an expert on robots and artificial intelligence at Samsung Advanced Technology Institute.

Korea's first astronaut Ko San.(Photo: Spacefacts)

Ko San overcame candidate Yi Soo-yeon, a 29-year-old woman in an extremely rigorous selection of tests and performances during training in Russia. As planned, astronaut Ko San will work on the ISS International Space Station for about a week with two Russian astronauts in April 2008, to conduct some scientific experiments.

Korea is also preparing to inaugurate the first space center in Goheung, about 500 km south of Seoul, at the end of next year. This work is a place to study for Korean space exploration plans in the coming decades.

Since 1992, Korea has 11 satellites launched into space, mostly for telecommunications and ocean and astronomical observations.

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