By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea will send an electrocardiograph (ECG) machine into space this week that will be used by the country's first astronaut, who will travel into orbit in April, an Air Force official said Monday.
The ECG, along with other medical equipment including a tonometer used to measure eye pressure, will be sent into space Tuesday aboard the Russian spaceship, Progress, Col. Jung Gi-young, head of the Air Force's space and air medical center, said.
The Russian cargo spacecraft, to be launched at 10:02 p.m. (Seoul time) from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Space Center, is to travel to the International Space Station, where South Korea's first astronaut Ko San will stay for 10 days after being sent into orbit on April 8.
Jung, who is also in charge of the country's first medical research in space, said the equipment will be used to check various physical changes that astronauts undergo in space.
While in space, Ko, 32, will have his eye pressure checked 72 times over two days, more frequently than any previous research of its kind by astronauts, according to Jung.
``One of the long-term issues for us to resolve, if we are to continue exploring further into space and reach Mars or other planets, is to find out how humans react to being exposed to extreme conditions for long periods of time,'' Jung was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.
``The results from the research will provide basic information with which we can find a solution,'' said the colonel, noting the findings will be shared with other nations through international science seminars or journals.