South Korea's first astronaut gets replaced

Manchurian Taikonaut · #1 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 11:08 AM

S Korea decides to change its first-ever astronaut candidate

Quote:

(Xinhua) -- South Korea's Science Ministry announced Monday that it has decided to change the country's first-ever astronaut candidate under Russia's request.

Following the decision, South Korean female Yi So-yeon, 29, will be sent into the space on the Soyuz spacecraft on April 8 and stay on the space station orbiting the Earth for seven to eight days instead of her colleague Ko San. Yi will become South Korea's first astronaut and first woman going into space.

"The main reason for the change is based on repeated violations of training protocol by Ko," said a ministry official. Ko was cited for violating procedures twice separately in September last year and last month.

"The Russian authorities said that because minor mistakes and disobedience could result in serious consequences, following orders is vital," the official added.

The change of candidate will not affect Yi's performance as Yi and Ko were trained side-by-side, the official said.

Under an agreement between South Korea and Russia, Yi will blast off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Space Center on April 8 and stay on board the space station for about a week to conduct various experiments. She is scheduled to board a capsule for earth on April 19.

Ko and Yi were selected as the No. 1 and No. 2 candidates for the space travel from 36,206 South Korean hopefuls last September. They have received extensive training programs in South Korea and Russia in preparation for the travel.

JonClarke · #2 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 11:49 AM

Yi, currently employed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering at the state-run Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology...In February, she received her Ph.D. in a bioengineering from the same school.

http://www.physorg.com/news124351805.html

Rue · #3 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 12:45 PM

Korea is known as a traditional patriarchal society, it would really be something if Korea's first astronaut is a woman. It is interesting to note Soyeon's opinion of the Russian space program, "they have not had any recent accidents because they never update."

Trocisp · #4 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 01:06 PM

Korea has always been Patriarchal, but they've also been very pragmatic.... What doesn't surprise me is that they're using the Russian space program, rather than the American one (have we ever even let a foreigner onto our shuttle?). Kinda says "Hey, we're close allies, you even help defend our border... but your space program is such crap."

Swift · #5 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trocisp

Korea has always been Patriarchal, but they've also been very pragmatic.... What doesn't surprise me is that they're using the Russian space program, rather than the American one (have we ever even let a foreigner onto our shuttle?). Kinda says "Hey, we're close allies, you even help defend our border... but your space program is such crap."

Yes, lots of foreigners have flown on the shuttle up to the ISS. Large list here; includes astronauts and mission specialists from Italy, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Israel, and Russia.

Trocisp · #6 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 01:53 PM

So, why is it, do you think, that the S. Koreans decided to send them up on the Russian craft?

could it be because the American leaves a lot to be desired?

Swift · #7 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trocisp

So, why is it, do you think, that the S. Koreans decided to send them up on the Russian craft?

could it be because the American leaves a lot to be desired?

I suspect it is mostly scheduling. According to the article she is only staying up for 10 days. Shuttle flights are usually a few months apart. I also believe there have been astronauts that have gone up on a shuttle and returned in a Russian capsule, and visa versa. I don't think this is a statement from the Korean government about the US or its space program.

Manchurian Taikonaut · #8 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trocisp

So, why is it, do you think, that the S. Koreans decided to send them up on the Russian craft?

could it be because the American leaves a lot to be desired?

It's true Shuttle had some serious problems and soon after Columbia NASA was reluctant to risk foreign astronauts yet alone their own United States astronauts (foreign crew member Israeli Ilan Ramon got killed and the death of six American crew)
But NASA turned it around, the Shuttle has been flying once again and getting its missions done and returning crew members safely.
I think the Koreans have chosen Soyuz, because training with Russia's Soyuz costs less, their spacecraft launch on-time and Russia might trade technology such as helping the South Koreans develop a launch vehicle. There is now little space for foreign members to fly on Shuttle because it retires soon and Japanese, Europeans wanted to get their people aboard so they get the most out of their ISS contribution like ATV, Kibo etc

Rue · #9 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manchurian Taikonaut

I think the Koreans have chosen Soyuz, because training with Russia's Soyuz costs less, their spacecraft launch on-time and Russia might trade technology such as helping the South Koreans develop a launch vehicle.

Yes, apparently S. Korea did ask US for space hardware technical assistance first, but they were refused on the grounds that the US did not want to promote "proliferation".

Next they asked Russia who were willing to assist, for a price.

Trocisp · #10 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 03:20 PM

I hate the proliferation argument.

Anyone can design a Nuclear warhead, the information isn't that difficult to find. The trick is actually obtaining enriched plutonium.

Noclevername · #11 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 05:58 PM

I'll bet Ko is slapping his forehead now.

Rue · #12 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 06:58 PM

^ yeah usually you just have to pay a small fine for overdue library books.

Ara Pacis · #13 (**permalink**) 10-March-2008, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rue

^ yeah usually you just have to pay a small fine for overdue library books.

Well, when you checkout 2001: A Space Odyssey and start saying "Good morning, Dave" to everyone, they get worried.

ToSeek · #14 (**permalink**) 21-April-2008, 05:06 PM

Maybe she should have passed:

Yi describes frightening return to Earth

Quote:

Officials said the craft followed a so-called "ballistic re-entry" - a very steep trajectory that subjects the crew to extreme physical force. Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said the crew had experienced gravitational forces up to 10 times those on Earth during the 3 1/2-hour descent.

01101001 · #15 (**permalink**) 21-April-2008, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToSeek

Yi describes frightening return to Earth

Physorg returns sql error now.

Similar text may be: AP: Official: Soyuz capsule lands off target

Quote:

Officials said the craft followed a so-called "ballistic re-entry" — a very steep trajectory that subjects the crew to extreme physical force. Lyndin said the crew had experienced gravitational forces up to 10 times those on Earth during the descent.

Edit: Minutes later, physorg is error-free. It's different stuff than I guessed, with words from Yi, and including some of the AP material:

For instance:

Quote:

During descent I saw some kind of fire outside as we were going through the atmosphere," said Yi So-yeon, a 29-year-old bioengineer. "At first I was really scared because it looked really, really hot and I thought we could burn."

But then she said she noticed it was not even warm inside the Soyuz capsule. "I looked at the others and I pretended to be OK," Yi said.

Doodler · #16 (**permalink**) 21-April-2008, 05:36 PM

Don't mistake the presence of professionalism for the lack of concern.

schlaugh · #17 (**permalink**) 21-April-2008, 08:22 PM

I don't understand why Ms. Yi was surprised to see "fire" streaming away from the Soyuz during the re-entry. Did her $20 million training fee not include an expectation of what to expect?

Quote:

"During descent I saw some kind of fire outside as we were going through the atmosphere," said Yi So-yeon

I've looked around and am also surprised that the Russian Federal Space Agency exec isn't catching heat for his incredibly chauvinistic comments about Naval superstition contributing to the incorrect flight path (via Fraser's post in the UT Forum):

Quote:

In a controversial statement to reporters, Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov placed some of the blame on an old naval superstition that the female-dominated crew were bad luck and the first female commander (Peggy Whitson) was responsible for the change of plan.

"You know in Russia, there are certain bad omens about this sort of thing, but thank God that everything worked out successfully. Of course in the future, we will work somehow to ensure that the number of women will not surpass [the number of men]." - Anatoly Perminov

Naturally, this kind of statement will have caused a bit of a stir. A reporter pushed for elaboration and Perminov continued, "This isn't discrimination. I'm just saying that when a majority is female, sometimes certain kinds of unsanctioned behaviour or something else occurs, that's what I'm talking about."

What the ____?

Lonewulf · #18 (**permalink**) 22-April-2008, 01:10 PM

Quote:

"This isn't discrimination. I'm just saying that when a majority is female, sometimes certain kinds of unsanctioned behaviour or something else occurs, that's what I'm talking about."

Lawl.

"This isn't discrimination, I'm just saying that if you leave a bunch of black men in a room, sometimes certain kinds of unsanctioned behavior or something else occurs, unlike what you get with white people."

01101001 · #19 (**permalink**) 23-April-2008, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schlaugh

I don't understand why Ms. Yi was surprised to see "fire" streaming away from the Soyuz during the re-entry.

Perhaps it was more dramatic than the simulations she saw in training. Maybe she didn't even get to practice this failure mode.

New York Times: NASA Official Plays Down a Troubled Soyuz Landing

Quote:

Russian news agencies quoted unidentified sources as saying that the astronauts were in serious danger during the descent and that the capsule suffered unusual burn damage during its fiery re-entry to the atmosphere.

According to an Associated Press report from Moscow, Alexander Vorobyov, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Agency, confirmed that the descent had problems, saying the Soyuz hatch and the antenna suffered burn damage.

Maybe whatever happened, when eye-witnessed inches away, afterward seemed just plain more worthy of comment, than when its possibility was mentioned back in cosmonaut school.