This was the spacecraft that carried Yi So-yeon, South Korea's very first astronaut, into space and landed her safely (?) down to earth today. Also on board were Russia's Yuri Malenchenko and United States space veteran Peggy Whitson.
But the landing was far from perfect. According to Yonhap News Agency, the spacecraft was forced to land 420 kilometers, or about 250 miles, from the original designated spot due to intense G-forces.
Hold on. What in the world are G-forces? According to Webster's New Millenium Dictionary of English, a g-force is defined as: "a unit of inertial force on a body that is subjected to rapid acceleration or gravity, equal to 32 ft. per second per second at sea level." I'm still not really grasping the concept, but we can't all be cosmonauts... I'm just upset that Yonhap didn't think to define the word within its article.
Anyway, as a result of these mysterious g-forces, they had to change their landing course at the last minute, thus arriving on earth 20 minutes behind schedule.
As soon as they landed, the three were taken to get medical check-ups and Yonhap quotes a Russia Space Agency director as saying, "All three cosmonauts are healthy and in good condition."
Yi spent a total of 12 days conducting various experiments in space. These included simple tests of gravity and possibly coming up with ways to reduce the noise the machines in spaceships make.
Korea has made relatively slow inroads into the Space Race. It's just the 39th country to send someone to space. But Seoul's new government now wants to be in the top 7 of the world's space superpowers within 10 years. I guess only time will tell just how significant Yi's landmark trip will be on the country's space future and whether the country has what it takes.
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