A 30-year-old computer vision engineer has been chosen as South Korea's first astronaut to make a trip to the International Space Station on a Russian spacecraft early next year, the local news agency Yonhap reported Wednesday.
Ko san, a researcher at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, will go into space on the Soyuz spacecraft in April 2008 and spend seven to eight days on the space station orbiting the Earth, the South Korean Ministry of Science and Technology was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Ko was selected over Yi So-yeon because he received higher marks in the extensive training program undertaken in South Korea and Russia since early this year, the ministry said.
It said Yi, a nanotechnology engineer, will complete the rest of the training program so she can replace Ko if he is unable to participate in the planned mission.
The two have undergone training in both South Korea and Russia since early this year after being picked on Dec. 25 from 36,206 hopefuls. The government is spending more than 20 million U.S. dollars for Ko and Yi's training, which it hopes will fuel interest in the science and engineering fields in South Korea.
"The astronaut program is needed because it can provide vital know-how that can form the foundation of future development in this field," said Vice Science Minister Chung Yoon.
He also said the program will help the country acquire vital knowledge about the astronaut selection and training process as well as enable South Korea to improve cooperation with Japan and European countries.
Source: Xinhua
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