Yi Arrives at Space Station
By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
South Korea's first astronaut Yi So-yeon started her nine-day mission at the International Space Station (ISS), after the Soyuz spacecraft docked with the orbital station Thursday night.
The Soyuz TMA12 carrying Yi and two Russian pilots slowly approached the ISS from a lower altitude orbit, and safely connected with the ISS at 9:57 p.m., Korean time, a few minutes ahead of schedule.
The rendezvous was so smooth and successful that a NASA commentator called it a ``textbook arrival'' on its live Web broadcast.
"Annyeong-haseyo,'' Yi said hello in Korean to her family and ground officials waiting at the Mission Control Center in Moscow, as she entered the ISS three hours after the docking.
As usual, the 29-year-old looked lively and joyful during the video call, and well-adjusted to the non-gravity environment.
``I still cannot believe that I'm in space. I will do my best and I will spend all my energy for Koreans while I'm here. I hope the day will come when every Korean can enjoy their time in space."
Yi is the 157th person to visit the space research facility, which orbits the Earth 300 kilometers above its surface. She will conduct 18 experiments for research and educational purposes there.
The docking was a sensitive process, given that the two objects were traveling at a speed of over 27,000 kilometers per hour. The extremely low temperature and absence of atmosphere were other factors that made the rendezvous a treacherous event for the astronauts in the ISS and the spaceship.
It was broadcast live on NASA's Web site, as well as by SBS TV in South Korea via the Mission Control Center in Moscow. NASA's live video footage was taken from the ISS, while SBS broadcast from a camera on the Soyuz.
The ISS will be observable from South Korea with the naked eye as it travels over the country for about five minutes every night until April 14. Information on times and locations are available at www.kasi.re.kr.
After spending her first night in the orbital station, Yi will begin her scientific research. Having set up the necessary software programs and other equipment at the station upon arrival, she will conduct experiments on the germination, growth and mutation of plants in space; and the effects of zero gravity on her heart, eye pressure and face.
With a specially designed three-dimensional camera, Yi will take six shots of her face everyday to see how it changes.
``Yi's experiments may look simple, but they have significant meaning,'' said Paik Hong-yul, president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. ``From now on, South Korea can join in space experiment projects launched by other nations such as Russia and the United States, since these experiments will prove our ability to produce quality space equipment.''
Yi, a Ph.D bio scientist, will return to Kazakhstan on April 19 with an American pilot Peggy Whitson and Russian engineer Yuri Malenchenko, who have lived on the ISS for six months.
Yi's space journey has so far been successful, but it wasn't immaculate. On the day of the launch, Yi and the two Russian pilots Sergey Volkov and Oleg Kononenko had to walk up the stairs to the top of the 49-meter-high rocket because they were not allowed to use a lift, Yonhap news agency said citing multiple local news agencies and papers.
The report said that this was due to an incident between the security guards at the launch pad and engineers from Energia, the rocket's manufacturer, though it did not affect the launch.
indizio@koreatimes.co.kr