South Korea's First Astronaut Leaves Hospital

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South Korea's First Astronaut Leaves Hospital
South Korea's first astronaut So-yeon Yi is shown with packages of her country's space food inside the Russian segment of the International Space Station in this image released by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute. (Image credit: Korea Aerospace Research Institute.)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Ascience official says South Korea's first astronaut has left a hospital afterrecovering from neck and back pain apparently caused by her Russianspacecraft's unexpectedly steep descent to Earth last month.

Science Ministry officialJung Kyung-taek said Yi So-yeon was released Wednesday from a military-runhospital because her pains have almost stopped. Shewas hospitalized April 29.

Yi's capsule missedits target by about 260 miles due to an apparent technical glitch whenit landed on a barren Kazakhstan steppe on April 19.

The 29-year-old Yi is abioengineer at the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute.

 

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