First South Korean astronaut reaches the ISS

With the initiatives taken by many new countries to conquer outer space, Yi So-yeon, a 29-year-old nanotechnology engineer of South Korea became the latest female astronaut to face the challenge by becoming the first South Korean astronaut to travel out into space.

Her mission was to reach the International Space Station (ISS) to conduct scientific experiments during her eleven day stay, and her partners during the voyage were the two Russian cosmonauts, Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko. The launch took place on April 8, 2007 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

A Soyuz TMA-12 spaceship was used in this mission, and the Russian space rocket had successfully reached the ISS and docked with the orbiting platform on April 10, 2007. South Korea had paid Russia about 25 million dollars to send its first national into space.

This historical event has many fascinating facts behind it as well. Most importantly, the Soyuz TMA-12 was lifted off from the world’s oldest space launch pad, used by Russia’s Yuri Gagarin when he became the first human in space in 1961. Furthermore, being the first South Korean in space, So-yeon also became the 49th female astronaut of all time.

Sergei Volkov who was a partner of Yi So-yeon is former astronaut Alexander Volkov’s son and so this event goes into history also as the first space dynasty.

How Yi So-yeon got the opportunity to be the first astronaut for South Korea is also interesting. She has been a reserve candidate, and had been picked for the flight in March after Ko San, who was to be the primary astronaut, was charged by Russia for removing important documents from a training centre.

Yi returned to Earth on April 19 while her travel partners Russian Commander Volkov and flight engineer Oleg Kononenko stayed on for a period of six months in orbit. On this return flight, she was accompanied by another special person, Peggy Whitson who has been the commanding officer of the ISS.

She also made history by achieving the longest total time in space, of 377 days on two missions. She also holds the women’s world record for the most spacewalking time, which amounts to 39 hours and 46 minutes in total.

A new launch vehicle from Russia

A whole fleet of launch vehicles are used by Russia, USA and other countries which are into space exploration to shoot payloads out into space.

However, one important shortcoming with these rockets is that they cannot carry very heavy loads, and as a result, sometimes missions are made small and it causes multiple space travels to take place. Russia has come up with a solution for this.

The Angara rocket, currently under development, is designed to put heavy payloads into orbit. This kind of rockets will be available in a range of configurations capable of lifting between two and 24.5 metric tons to low-Earth orbit.

Flight tests of this new-generation Russian space launch vehicle will start in 2010. It is mainly planned for launch from the Plesetsk space center, located in northwest Russia.

The Angara will be used to put satellites into orbit as part of the Federal Space Program, as well as joint international space projects. The space centre is also planning to develop a new super-heavy-lift rocket capable of putting into orbit payloads of between 45 and 175 tons.

Outer space assembly by Russia

Requirements related to space travel are changing daily, and the necessity to carry larger payloads has become a key concern. The Angara rocket is going to be one solution as mentioned earlier in today’s edition. However, Russia has taken a further step and is going to create a manned assembly complex in orbit.

This assembly complex is to be used to make dockings in orbit, build craft there and send them to the Moon, Mars and other planets. The intention of this is to get rid of the massive energy and power required in launches from Earth due to gravity and other resistances.

The main reason behind this scheme is because the new generation piloted spacecraft is believed to weigh 18-22 tones, and it will be impossible to launch it with the available rockets. With all the modifications, the Soyuz can carry no more than 16-17 tones, so it will be impossible to use it for the purposes.

Furthermore, this new concept will be a solution to the fact that Russia doesn’t have engines so far for rockets to carry spacecraft not only to orbits around the Earth, but also to other planets.

- Aravinda Dassanayake