By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter

Korea's first astronaut Yi So-yeon will be discharged from hospital on Wednesday as she has almost recovered from the impact of the bad landing.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said Yi will start her official schedule as soon as she leaves the Aerospace Medical Institution Wednesday morning. She has suffered back and neck pains and received physical therapy at the Air Force hospital a day after her return to Korea on April 28.

``She has been in intensive care and her condition is improving. We believe that she will be able to leave the hospital on May 14,'' said Colonel Jung Gi-young, the physician in charge of the astronaut project.

Yi returned to earth on April 19 from her 12-day trip to the International Space Station aboard a Russian spaceship. The Soyuz landing module reentered the atmosphere at a faster speed than expected and the crash-landing delivered a severe physical shock to the three astronauts inside it, according to officials in Moscow and Seoul.

Thorough medical examinations showed that the 29-year-old had no serious injuries, though she suffered pain in her back, shoulders and neck. Her official schedule was canceled immediately as she was hospitalized under tight security.

Back from the sick bed, Yi will have busy days to catch up with her schedule. She is expected to visit KAIST, her alma mater, to give a speech to the science and engineering students. The next day she will meet Science Minister Kim Do-yeon.

On May 18, she will leave for Russia to attend a technical debriefing to the Russian space agency and its celebration party on May 22 and 23. Return is scheduled for May 24.

The Soyuz TMA-12 was launched on April 8 from Kazakhstan's Baikonur center. Yi, a bio scientist who was selected for the job among some 30,000 candidates, performed 18 experiments in the nine days she spent at the International Space Station.

The astronaut project has received both warm and cold responses from Korean citizens. While many hailed it as a breakthrough event for Korea's entry into the space race, some criticized it as a hefty space tourism lottery.

The government has spent some 25 billion won on it, hoping to raise public awareness of costly space projects such as the building of its own rocket. Its first unmanned space vehicle, which was built using Russian rocket technology, will be launched in December at a newly constructed launch pad on a southwestern island.

indizio@koreatimes.co.kr