[Korea.net News, Science / Tech, December 24 2007] Korean technician to boost the nation's space industry

Ko San, Korea’s first astronaut, is now having a training session inside the Soyuz spacecraft stationed at the Gagarin Space Center in Moscow.

About 36,000 Koreans applied to become the country’s first person in space and only six people were short-listed after rigorous tests for physical fitness, reaction to a contingency, general fitness for space flight and interaction with foreign cosmonauts.

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"The astronaut program is needed because it can provide vital know-how that can form the foundation of future development in this field," said Vice Science Minister Chung Yoon in an interview with a domestic news agency.

The vice minister said the space program will help the country create a system for selecting and training astronauts as well as enable Korea to improve cooperation with Japan and European countries in the space industry.