page_title: Yi So-yeon
section_title: Korean astronaut program
hierarchical_section_title: Yi So-yeon / Space career / Korean astronaut program
caption_attribution_description: English: San Ko (right) and So-yeon Yi (center), South Korean prime and backup spaceflight participants, respectively, participate in a space station hardware training session in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the Johnson Space Center. San is scheduled to launch with the Expedition 17 crew on the Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft April 8 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome under a commercial agreement between the South Korean government and Roscosmos for nine days on the International Space Station; San is scheduled to return to Earth April 19 with the Expedition 16 crew. United Space Alliance (USA) instructor Glenn Johnson assisted the spaceflight participants. However, Yi Soyeon replaces his position now.
context_page_description: Yi So-yeon is an astronaut and biotechnologist who became the first Korean to fly in space. Upon return from her mission aboard the International Space Station, Yi continued as a KARI researcher attending the International Space University before retiring from the agency to pursue an MBA at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business and joining commercial astronaut corps the Association of Spaceflight Professionals.
context_section_description: Yi was one of the two finalists chosen on December 25, 2006 through the Korean Astronaut Program. On September 5, 2007, the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology selected Ko San as the primary astronaut, and Yi So-yeon as backup, following performance and other tests during their training in Russia.
  A change was made on March 7, 2008, when Yi was selected to train with the primary crew, and confirmed on March 10 the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced that Yi would replace Ko. This was after the Russian Federal Space Agency asked for a replacement, because Ko violated regulations several times at a Russian training center by removing sensitive reading materials and mailing one back to Korea. On April 8, 2008, Yi was launched into space on board Soyuz TMA-12 with two Russian cosmonauts. South Korea is reported to have paid Russia $20 million for Yi's space flight. She is the third woman, after Helen Sharman of the United Kingdom and Anousheh Ansari an Iranian American, to be the first national from their country in space.
caption: Yi So-yeon and Ko San participate in a space station hardware training session in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the Johnson Space Center by Crew Systems instructor Glenn Johnson.
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