The only Korean astronaut quit his job

Astronaut Yi So-yeon, the first Korean to fly into space, recently announced his job to pursue a career in America.

Korean media reported that Yi So-yeon presented personal issues in her leave letter to the National Aerospace Research Institute.

Yi So-yeon once surpassed more than 36,000 other candidates to become Korea's first astronaut. On April 8, 2008, Yi was a member of the crew to be taken to the ISS International Space Station with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Yi So-yeon (left) with the astronauts on the ISS mission in 2008. (Photo: NASA)

According to ABC News, this is considered an important milestone when Yi became the first Korean and the 49th woman to fly into space. For 11 days on the ISS, Yi and his colleagues conducted a number of scientific experiments and prepared with traditional kimchi to commemorate the Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin.

After his mission on ISS, Yi spent 4 years working at a research institute, attending many lectures on space research, a number of educational programs aimed at orienting and inspiring students. In 2010, she began her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree at the University of California, USA.

After Yi's decision to quit, South Koreans are questioning the government's decision to spend millions of dollars on investment in an astronaut. According to the Huffington Post, the Korean government spent more than $ 25 million to bring Yi to space in the research mission.

Last year, Yi faced many criticisms before the decision to pursue MBA. Yi defended this decision and said her aim was to promote Korean space technology."It was a decision I made after realizing that I could not live the rest of my life just to talk about what I had done in 11 days on ISS , " Yi said.