Russia Welcomes Korea’s Joining Space Club
By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
The Russian ambassador to Seoul said the first Korean astronaut's trip into space is just the beginning of Korean-Russian cooperation in space exploration.
Welcoming Korea to the ``space club,'' Ambassador Gleb A. Ivashentsov said, ``It is good ground for further cooperation.''
In an exclusive interview with The Korea Times Monday, he congratulated Yi So-yeon, 29, whom he met personally last year at the embassy, with Ko San.
Yi was a backup for Ko, who had originally been chosen as the first Korean astronaut from more than 36,000 candidates.
The ambassador extended his congratulations to all Koreans and especially Korean women as he called it ``a big achievement for (them).''
Russia has had three female astronauts. One of them was elected as a member of the Russian Parliament, and visited Seoul in 2006.
Yi last night set off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station with two other Russian astronauts, Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko.
Korea is constructing the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, in collaboration with the Russian Federal Space Agency.
The center is to open in September. In December, a joint Korean-Russian rocket, called the Korea Space Launch Vehicle, will launch with a 100-kilogram satellite, the ambassador said.
The ambassador witnessed two milestone events in the history of space exploration between Russia and Korea.
Yuri Gagarin, a Russian, became the first human in orbit on April 1961. He still remembers the day vividly, he recalled.
``I was a ninth-grade student. Suddenly, some students rushed into the class said we should plug in the radio,'' Ivashentsov said.
The entire country cheered as streets were full of people rallying with banners. ``It was the most impressive day in Russian history. It (the first Korean astronaut) is also a big event for Korea.''