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 16 October 2008 02:13 BST

First South Korean astronaut launches into space

Tuesday, 08 Apr 2008 14:53
So-yeon Yi is the first South Korean person in space
The first South Korean to enter space successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan this afternoon.

So-yeon Yi lifted-off in a Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft with commander Sergei Alexandrovich Volkov and cosmonaut Oleg Dmitrievich Kononenko of the 17th International Space Station (ISS) crew.

She is flying under contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency and will return to Earth with Expedition 16 crew members commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko in their Soyuz TMA-11 on April 19th.

The Soyuz spacecraft lifted off at 12:16 BST and less than ten minutes later it deployed its antennas and solar arrays.

The spacecraft is due to dock with the ISS on Thursday 10th April.

It is also the first flight into space for Mr Kononenko and Mr Volkov, son of cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, who flew three long-duration missions in Soviet and Russian space stations from 1985 to 1992.

Expedition 17 will stay at the ISS for six months and is to continue the expansion of the orbiting outpost.

In July Mr Volkov and Mr Kononenko will perform the station's 20th Russian spacewalk.
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