Yi Soo-yeon, South Korea's first female astronaut, is about to board the Soyuz TMA-12 spaceship at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, April 8, 2008. Sim Eunsup, director of the Korean Aerospace Research Institute, said he would like Yi's historic flight to signal the start of a manned space program for the Asian economic giant. Yi will spend 11 days at the International Space Station and will return to the Earth on April 19. (Xinhua) |