South Korea’s first astronaut Yi So-yeon smiles during a medical test after returning to Earth in a Russian space capsule in northern Kazakhstan, Saturday. The capsule landed about 420 kms (260 miles) off course in Kazakhstan but the three-member crew was safe. / Reuters-Yonhap |
By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
Korea's first astronaut, Yi So-yeon, was moved to a hospital in Moscow for recovery Sunday morning after safely landing on the Kazakhstan steppe Saturday evening.
For about a week, Yi will undergo various medical check-ups while adjusting to gravity in the Gagarin Space Center hospital. She is expected to return to South Korea on April 28, where a heroine's welcome awaits her.
When she was salvaged from the charred Soyuz space on the Kazahkstan steppe, Yi looked so exhausted that she was not able to walk by herself. ``There was a shock during landing, and I'm having trouble with my sense of direction,'' she told SBS TV as she was waiting to be airlifted by a military helicopter. Veteran crewmates Peggy Whitson of the United States and Yuri Malenchenko of Russia also looked worn out.
In a press conference held at the Kustanaj airport in Kazakhstan a few hours later, the 29-year-old Korean seemed to have regained some of her energy and cheerfulness. When asked about the most difficult part of her 12-day trip to the International Space Station, she said nothing was harder than the training she received on the ground.
``I have always said the spinning chair was most difficult for me,'' she said in English. ``Otherwise, it was all exciting and fantastic. The most impressive thing was flying in outer space, so now I'm little bit confused whether I can fly or not.''
The Soyuz spaceship the three astronauts used for landing has been known for its reliability since the 1960s, but Yi's return wasn't as smooth as expected. For some reason, the return module entered the atmosphere in a ``ballistic trajectory'' instead of the vertical drop intended, officials said.
The irregular flight disrupted communication with the Mission Control Center in Moscow for the last 20 minutes of the landing, Korean officials said. It also subjected the crew to G-forces more than double of what would occur under normal circumstances, Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin was quoted as saying by MSNBC.
The capsule dropped onto grassland about 420 kilometers off target. Photos of the scene showed the capsule lying on its side, embedded in the ground. The frictional heat from the atmosphere burnt the outside of the capsule black, as well as the grassland stretched several hundreds meters behind it.
It took another 25 minutes before search helicopters could locate the capsule and rescue the crew.
``Don't be late next time, please,'' Yi said, smiling, in the rescue helicopter.
indizio@koreatimes.co.kr
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