SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's first astronaut has been
hospitalized with back and neck pain apparently caused by the unexpectedly
steep descent of her Russian space capsule when it returned to Earth, officials
said Wednesday.
Yi So-yeon
was taken to a hospital Tuesday due to the pain after she canceled a meeting
with President Lee Myung-bak, according to the state-run Korea Aerospace
Research Institute, where she works as a bioengineer.
The Science
Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that preliminary tests showed Yi
suffered a minor injury to her neck muscles and bruised her spinal column.
The
ministry said there was no serious health problem but will determine later
whether to allow her to resume public activities after conducting more tests.
Jung Ki-young,
head of the air force-affiliated Aerospace Medical Center where Yi is hospitalized, refused to publicly disclose
details of her health, according to the ministry statement.
Earlier
Wednesday, an KARI official said her pain may be the result of the spacecraft's
steeper-than-usual descent when it landed April 19. A technical glitch
apparently caused the capsule to land about 420 kilometers (260 miles) from its
target on Kazakhstan's barren steppe.
"We
are looking at various possible reasons for her pain," the official said
on condition of anonymity, citing institute policy.
The
three-person crew in the Soyuz capsule was subjected to forces of about eight
times Earth's gravity for up to two minutes. Normal Soyuz returns have G-forces
of about five.
Russia's Interfax news agency said the
capsule entered the atmosphere improperly, with its hatch first instead of with
its heat shields leading the way. As a result, the hatch suffered significant
damage and the capsule's antenna burned up.
South Korea's Science Ministry said Russian
authorities were expected to announce the cause of the flawed landing by the
end of May.
On Monday,
Yi told a news conference after returning to South Korea that she had been suffering some back pain since the landing
but that Russian X-ray tests showed her condition was satisfactory.
"I
think I'll be fine after taking a rest," she said.
The South
Korean government paid Russia US$20 million (euro13 million) for
her flight to the international space station.
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