Korea's first astronaut is female

The Korean government appointed female engineer Yi So-yeon to be the first person in the country to fly to space, replacing astronaut Ko San with requests from Russia.

Yi So-yeon, 29, will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) in early April on the Russian Soyuz. The astronaut will work on ISS within a week with two Russian astronauts, conducting scientific tests. Yi's journey will turn South Korea into the 35th country in the world and 6th Asia will fly to space.

Last September, South Korea chose Ko San to be the first country to fly to space. However, the Russian Federal Space Agency asked to replace others because of no disciplinary violations at the training center.

South Korea plans to complete the first space center later this year. This is part of a plan to build a science and technology base for space exploration in the coming decades.

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

Astronaut Yi So-yeon . (Photo: AP)