Russian Soyuz TMA-12 launches first South Korean astronaut

by William Atkins

Wednesday, 09 April 2008

Page 1 of 2 ! Yi So-yeon, the first astronaut for South Korea, was launched successfully into space on Tuesday, April 8, 2008, at 5:16 p.m. local time (1116 GMT) from launch pad LC 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (central Asia). The South Korean spaceflight participant was launched onboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft, which is bound to the International Space Station. The other two members of the crew are Russian Federation Space Agency (RSA) cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Sergei Volkov. Yi So-yeon is flying as a spaceflight participant through the Korean Astronaut Program. The Korean government paid the Russian government approximately twenty-five million U.S. dollars for the trip to space. The Soyuz spacecraft is currently in orbit about the Earth, about 150 miles (242 kilometers) in altitude. The crew is expected to remain in its spacecraft until Thursday, during which time they will slowly catch up to the International Space Station. They are scheduled to dock at the ISS on Thursday, April 10, 2008, at approximately 1300 GMT. Yi So-yeon will be in space for about twelve days. During this time, she will conduct numerous experiments. She is scheduled to return to the Earth on April 19, 2008, as the Expedition 16 crew--NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko--leaves the space station, being replaced with the new Expedition 17 crewmembers. Volkov will be the new commander of the ISS, replacing Peggy Whitson. Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, the Expedition 17 flight engineer, will remain at the ISS for about six months. They will be joined by NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, who arrived at the space station in March aboard the NASA space shuttle Endeavour (STS-123). Reisman, who is now a member of the Expedition 16 crew, will be the other flight engineer for the ISS Expedition 17 crew. He will transfer over to the new Expedition 17 crew when Volkov and Kononendo arrive at the space station. During their stay at the space station, the Expedition 17 crew will host the STS-124 mission, which is scheduled to launch on May 31, 2008 and arrive early in June aboard the space shuttle Discovery. The NASA crew will bring the second component of the Japanese Kibo science laboratory. Yi So-yeon is the first South Korean in space. Learn more on page two. << First page <   1 2 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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