The Soyuz
TMA-12 spacecraft takes off for the space station with two Russian cosmonauts
and South Korea's first astronaut.
Russian
cosmonauts Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, and South Korea's So-yeon Yi, launched
on April 8 for the two-day journey to the International Space Station
(ISS). Volkov is a second-generation cosmonaut who will become the ISS commander
for the next six months, with Kononenko as his flight engineer. They can look
forward to helping install the Japanese Kibo laboratory on the station and
seeing off Europe's cargo spacecraft Jules Verne.
Yi is the
second Asian woman to fly in space, and is slated for a 10-day mission to
perform science experiments and educational events on ISS. She replaces South Korea's original astronaut, AI expert San
Ko, after Russian spaceflight officials pulled Ko from the flight due to rule
violations.
— S.P.Korolev RSC Energia and SPACE.com
Staff
Credit: S.P.Korolev RSC Energia
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