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Space agency officials help Korea's first astronaut Yi So-yeon, center, American astronaut Peggy Whitson, bottom, and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko just after their arrival at the Chkalovsky airport near Star City on Saturday. A Russian space capsule touched down in Kazakhstan on Saturday after hurtling through Earth's atmosphere in a steeper-than-normal descent, subjecting the three-nation-crew to severe G-forces and landing hundreds of kilometers off target. /AP
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Korea's first astronaut returned safely to Earth on Saturday after a 10-day stay in space. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute said Sunday that the Russian TMA-11 space capsule carrying Yi So-yeon, American astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko touched down in grassland near Orsk, northern Kazakhstan at 5:30 p.m. (KST) on Saturday. Yi will return home later this month after spending some time adjusting to life on Earth and work as a PR ambassador for the institute.
After landing, Yi said in Russian, "I feel a little bit of pain in my waist, so it's hard to stand up," and then in Korean, "I'm home safely. I think I had a good experience. I appreciate all the support that the people of Korea showed me." A medical checkup found her in fine condition, with her blood pressure normal at 75 and 127.
The capsule landed some 420 km west of its intended target. Russian space authorities said the capsule descended through the atmosphere at an angle of 40 degrees against the ground, 10 degrees more than usual.
"From space, the Korean Peninsula appeared united. I still can't get sight of the Korean Peninsula and Jeju Island, which I saw before boarding the capsule, out of my mind," the 30-year-old Yi said at a press conference at Kustanay Airport in Kazakhstan. "The fact that I can't fly now that I am back on Earth is a little confusing." Asked what she wanted to do most, she provoked some laughter by replying that she wanted to go to the bathroom.
Yi is scheduled to return to Korea on April 28 after spending around a week getting medical checkups and training to readjust to gravity at the hospital of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center in Russia. She will then work at KARI where, along with Ko San, her backup astronaut, she will write reports on her activities as a cosmonaut and promote international cooperation with foreign astronauts.
But their foremost job will be to promote space science as PR ambassadors, giving lectures and interviews and writing articles. In addition, they will participate in space research projects. KARI president Paik Hong-yul said, "Yi, who has a doctoral degree in bioengineering, may be able to develop space experiments, while Ko can probably use his experience in working in artificial intelligence to participate in the space robot project which is under discussion with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration."
Meanwhile, Yi reportedly has been receiving offers to appear in commercials for cosmetics and other products.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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