As I had mentioned “One Giant Leap for Kimchi,” South Korea will be sending it’s first astronaut into space April 8th on a Russian rocket to to the International Space Station. However, that astronaut will no longer 31-year-old Ko San, but Yi So-yeon, a 29-year-old female Ph.D. bioengineering student:
“…She was the government’s second choice for the coveted seat and got the assignment only after Russian officials accused the man first chosen for the flight of repeatedly violating training rules… Ko and Yi were the top two finalists out of more than 36,000 South Koreans who applied to become the first Korean astronaut…The Russians accused Ko of removing sensitive training materials from the Russian training center and taking them home, some of which, the Russians said, were not even related to his mission. He later admitted this was an innocent mistake and returned the material…One of the highlights of the mission for Yi and the entire South Korean nation will be a traditional Korean kimchi dinner that Yi will host April 12 in the space station, in honor of the first Russian in space, Yuri Gagarin.”
Many have commented that this is a giant leap for women in South Korea and will certainly encourage more women to go into science. Can you imagine being the first person in your country to be the first astronaut in space!
