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S.Korea's 1st astronaut to fly to ISS with Russian crew in April

RIA Novosti

24/01/2008 16:54 MOSCOW, January 24 (RIA Novosti) - South Korea's Ko San, set to become the country's first astronaut, will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) with a Russian crew on April 8, Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Thursday.

A contract to fly a Korean to the world's sole orbiter in the spring of 2008 was signed between Russia and South Korea in December 2006. The contract is estimated at $20-25 million.

"Under the flight program, the South Korean astronaut will take off together with his Russian colleagues on board the Soyuz TMA-12 craft from the Baikonur space center on April 8, 2008. He will stay at the ISS for ten days and then return to the Earth on board the Soyuz TMA-11 vehicle," Roskosmos said.

The South Korean 30-year-old robotics specialist from the research center of electronics giant Samsung will fly to the world's sole orbiter as part of the ISS 17th expedition, which will also include Russian cosmonauts Commander Sergei Volkov and Flight Engineer Oleg Kononenko, Roscosmos said.

South Korea held a national competition to select an astronaut. Several candidates underwent training at the Gagarin center in Russia under a separate contract.