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SKorea picks two to train to be country's first astronaut
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    • SEOUL, Dec 26 (AFP) Dec 26, 2006
     After weighing the merits of some 36,000 applicants, South Korea has selected two finalists -- a male researcher and a female postgraduate student -- in its search for the country's first astronaut.

    Researcher Ko San, 30, and Ph.D student Yi So-Yeon, 28, were chosen late Monday after a live TV appearance along with four other potential finalists.

    The Science Ministry said they will be sent to Russia's Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in March 2007, where they will be given intensive training, including how to carry out experiments in space.

    One of them will travel on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station in April 2008. The astronaut is scheduled to stay on board the station orbiting the Earth for seven or eight days before returning home.

    South Korea will be the 36th country since Russia's Yuri Gagarin in 1961 to put a man -- or woman - into space. It will cost some 26 billion won (28 million dollars).

    "I am so grateful for those who have supported female candidates. I want to boost the self-confidence of women," Yi was quoted by Tuesday's Korea Times as saying.

    Along with an astronaut, South Korea is planning to send into space some kimchi -- the much-loved national dish of spicy fermented cabbage.

    A state-run food research body is pushing ahead with a scheme to develop the foods so that it can be eaten in space.




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