By The first Korean astronaut space tourist has blasted off into orbit aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule:
Korea’s first astronaut, Yi Soyeon, began her travel into space Tuesday night.
Yi, a biosystems engineer, and two Russian cosmonauts blasted off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Space Center at 8:16 p.m., Korean time, aboard a Russian spacecraft.
The Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft entered the earth’s orbit nine minutes after blastoff. It is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station on Thursday after flying around the earth 32 times.
Yi and the Russian cosmonauts held a launch ceremony at Baikonur seven hours before blastoff. They boarded the Soyuz spacecraft at around 5:30 p.m.
Yi will conduct 18 scientific experiments during her eight-day stay at the station. She will return to Earth on April 19th.
With the successful launch, Korea has become the 36th country in the world to engage in human space flight. [KBS Global]
Congratulations of Yi So-yeon for accomplishing her dream of flying into space, but I still think she is much of an astronaut as Anousheh Ansari.
It is the sad reality. No mistake...
2:20 am on April 9th, 2008 1
Priviet, Blat!
This is great news. Finally, An-Ma in spaaaaace!
8:00 am on April 9th, 2008 2
Why do you label it Space Tourist?
There is a legitimate term for that… and it is called SFP: Space Flight Participant, originally termed by NASA themselves.
2:27 pm on April 9th, 2008 3
You can read my prior posting on this here:
http://rokdrop.com/2008/03/11/south-korea-changes…
Bottom line is that other nations have legitimate astronauts that completed degrees conducted years of relevant research and competed with the best and brightest to become astronauts. Korea paid $30 million to the Russians to claim they have an astronaut. Big difference.
Are Japanese smarter then Koreans? I don't think so but they have seven astronauts working with NASA. Even Brazil has an astronaut working with NASA. Why can't Korea? It because they don't want to devote the resources necessary to build a legitimate space program and spend the time necessary to develop it and train legitimate astronaut candidates. Instead they pay off the Russians to put an astronaut in space and wave the Korean flag.
That is why I say Yi So-yeon is as much as an astronaut as Anousheh Ansari.
4:53 pm on April 9th, 2008 4
"Korea paid $30 million to the Russians to claim they have an astronaut."
Even though she is a tourist, to be fair she is running "experiments". On the surface they do seem fake and useless, and I don't expect to see her noble prize anytime soon, but then again Korean science has a reputation that speaks for itself. So, the results probally have already been written. One "experiment" won't suprise anybody who has stepped into any starbucks in Korea. She is taking pictures of herself. Mostly her "experiments" are reminiscent of middle school biology classes.
hxxp://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2008/04/133_22155.html
On the bright side, this is a propaganda coup for Korans.
"Astronaut Gives Dream to Youth"
hxxp://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2008/04/117_22139.html
All those kids need is $30,000,000 and their dream can come true. Oh and then they need to wait for the spy they work with to screw up and get caught "accidentally" mailing a top secret manuals the size of the Manhatten Yellow pages to his underwriters.
The good news is, you don't have to be competant or earn your seat with hard work and sweat.
4:16 pm on April 10th, 2008 5
Moment of Zen gets a good laugh at the expence of Space tourist Yi so-yawn.
hXXp://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=163932&title=moment-of-zen-yi-so-yeon
What an idiot.
She is going to cook dinner (not real dinner but kimuchi) and sing too?
She has visions of grandeur too. She thinks she will bring north and south korea together. LOL
“As a Korean, I will try to make peace between the North and South Korean people,”
hxxp://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/197472,profile-south-koreas-first-woman-astronaut-blasts-off.html
What a narcissistic wack job.
5:11 pm on April 10th, 2008 6
Dr. Yu,
The accomplishment seems a bit empty to me when you compare Yi’s accomplishment to what the first Brazilian in space Marcos Pontes accomplished. You are from Brazil and should appreciate what Marcos Pontes accomplished.
Look at Pontes resume:
http://www11.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/pontes.html
This guy is highly educated, experienced, and qualified to be an astronaut. He trained and competed with the world’s best and brightest to become an astronaut. He conducted eight years of training before getting his chance to fly into space in 2006.
This shows Brazil’s commitment to developing a real space program which a lot of people do not realize exists in Brazil.
Korea on the other hand payed $30 million to send someone into space to eat kimchi and wave the Korean flag because they don’t want to spend the money like Brazil did to develop a space program as well as devote the time necessary to train legitimate astronaut candidates.
I think the achievement of the first Korean in space would be have been a much prouder moment if a legitimate Korean astronaut was sent into space.
How proud would Brazilians be of Pontes’ accomplishment if the Brazilian government paid the Russians $30 million instead sending a qualified astronaut?
12:49 am on April 10th, 2008 7
I'm proud.
Whether for science or vacation, it's good to see a korean in the space.
As Armstrong said : "That's one small step for [a] man (Yi Soyeon), one giant leap for mankind (Korea)."
3:13 am on April 10th, 2008 8
"Bottom line is that other nations have legitimate astronauts that completed degrees conducted years of relevant research and competed with the best and brightest to become astronauts. Korea paid $30 million to the Russians to claim they have an astronaut. Big difference."
Nailed it.
5:48 am on April 10th, 2008 9
"I’m proud."
The Korean summed up the purpose of the space tourist. Koreans nationalism. China and Japan are among the leaders of the world in REAL achievemnt in space. Koreans can't do anything substantive so they bag up some kimuchi and pay the russians $30,000,000 for a seat. Then they let their propaganda machine loose.
"Whether for science or vacation, it’s good to see a korean in the space."
I have to agree with you there. LOL It would be great to send a few million into space. LOL
I heard somewhere that a Korean was already sent into space in a V2 rocket? He may have been more qualified then Yi. LOL
6:34 am on April 10th, 2008 10
Hey GI Korea,
What are you? John Madden? Blabbering the obvious?
A vast majority of Koreans already know this and it is them who has been calling this entire fiasco as nothing more than Space Tourism.
Why are you beating the dead horse?
7:14 am on April 10th, 2008 11
They should have put the money toward ROK defense. That's one small step for…the ROK to get USFK back to the U-S-and-A. That is what they want, right??
10:32 am on April 10th, 2008 12
Dr Yu,
South Korea have done what they can to participate, even if it's only a tourism, and I am also very proud of their effort. I've never cared for this orbit travel previously… I really did not care.
But I do now!
Thank you Korea!!!!
12:10 pm on April 10th, 2008 13
" I am proud" Brazilian-Korean
"Thank you Korea" American-Korean
I find it so odd, that Koreans around the world have so little loyalty and affinity for their adopted land, some, in fact seem to hold nothing but contempt for their adopted land. Yet they are so nationalist towards the land they abandoned.
They are very different, for example then Chinese Americans. Chinese Americans are loyal to America. They are part of the fabric that has made America great.
Many Chinese Americans are elected officlals, like Gov Gary Locke. A few have even won Nobel Prizes (Unlike Kim Dae Jung, they earned it and didn't buy it). There are more Chinese restaurants in the USA then KFC, McDondlald, and Burger King combined.
hxxp://www.fortunecookiechronicles.com/
To be fair, I am sure there are loyal Korean Americans (loyal to America). Just as there could be unloyal Chinese Americans.
4:22 pm on April 10th, 2008 14
Hi GI,
Mr. Pontes is not a good example of professional astronaut.
As you pointed out he has an excellent resume but after returning to earth from space he quit his job from Brazilian air force. When interviewed about the reason why hi did so he said he wanted to make money with his fame and participate in events. Brazilian government invested US$ 30,000,000.00 with Russians to send him to space but he resigned afterwards. Now he is not “welcomed” anymore by Brazilian government.
Brazil is also not a good example of space program development. They build the Alcantara Machado space center and tried to test some rockets but it was a total failure. Their last attempt ended up with the destruction of part of the space center. Their space program is closed for now. The Brazilian space program is like their nuclear submarine program, just an attempt.
I don’t know what’s the problem with sending astronauts with the Russians, Pontes had to do so because Nasa refused to send him to space, despite of his “wonderful” resume. Obviously the korean astronaut can not be compared to Pontes, but she was selected among thousand of candidates and showed the minimum necessary conditions required to be sent to space. Even for “space tourism” people need qualification. I wonder if those who criticize her have such minimum qualifications ….
Comparing Korea and Brazil we are in better shape than them since we started it latter but we will soon be sending our satellites from our own space center and soon we will be able do design and build our own rockets. Brazil still lacks technology to do so.
And I don’t care if Korea has to import technology from Russians to build our own rockets. That’s the wisest think to do (it will foolish to start from the beginning). Remember American rocket technology is purely based on German rocket technology of WW2.
4:28 pm on April 10th, 2008 15
Hi Dada,
Only koreans living outside of Korea knows how precious is being proud of our own country. Living amoung foreigners makes me aware of how good and wondefull korean culture is.
I consider myself privileged for having the chance to live outside of Korea and realize the real value of our traditions.
4:31 pm on April 10th, 2008 16
shattered,
You must a chinese, right?
4:12 am on April 11th, 2008 17
Dr. Yu,
Suggesting that Brazil's rocket launch technology somehow compares poorly to Korea is nonsense.
Brazil has successfully launched dozens of rockets from Alcantara since the 1960's, so this is not something new to them. Korea didn't conduct its first indigenous rocket launch until 1993 and has conducted only 4 launches since then. So to suggest that Korea is in a better position because Brazil lacks the technology is ridiculous.
Instead, Brazil's misfortune is solely due to the accident you mentioned. That 2003 accident did not occur during an actual launch. Rather, the accident involved a solid fuel explosion during a ground test on Brazil's first large, multi-stage rocket. That accident killed most of the engineering staff at Alcantara since they were gathered around the launch pad for test monitoring.
When you accidentally kill off most of your engineers and destroy your facilities, it should not be a surprise that launch operations will shut down for a while. Even the Space Shuttle program shut down for almost 3 years after both of those accidents. But do not count Brazil out. Their equatorial launch capability is too economically tempting to not try again.
Given the imperfect history of rocket development, I suspect that Korea will have its share of failures as they attempt to launch a large multi-stage rocket sometime around 2012-2015 … more than a decade after Brazil.
5:02 am on April 11th, 2008 18
Jax,
Acknowledging that Brazil started his space program before Korea does not hurt my pride.
Don’t you remember? when the Korean war ended, Korean development level was comparable to those of African nations, if not worse. At that time Brazil was going to reach status of developed nation, but because of the military government their development plan got frustrated.
In term of the beginning, Korea is far behind Brazil, but comparing the result of each space program, we are better than Brazil. Believe me, Brazilian space program is seriously damaged and even if they succeed to build a reliable rocket, which in my opinion will take at least 5 years or more, they still lack infra-structure and resources to fund their space program.
Korea also lacks infra-structure, but we are in better financial situation than them, so we will buy necessary technology from Russia. Guess who will succeed to establish a reliable space program?
30 years ago Brazil had a solid defense industry building artillery systems, air planes, ships and had plan to build a nuclear submarine. Now, their defense industry vanished, excepting the air planes, and their space program is suffering the same fate.
5:19 am on April 11th, 2008 19
"Suggesting that Brazil’s rocket launch technology somehow compares poorly to Korea is nonsense."
The Korean doesn't care. It sounds like is just demonstrating his contempt for his adopted homeland. And his adoration for the land he has abandoned.
I have seen this kind of disloyaly a lot in Koreans.
5:55 am on April 11th, 2008 20
Dr. Yu,
Your argument is one of convenience.
Given that the current fleet of Korean developmental rockets and associated launch services are practically Russian copies, it would not surprise me if Korea achieves an orbital launch before Brazil succeeds on its own.
However, one should not confuse the development of an orbital launch capability with the establishment of a successful space program. They are not the same since you need a broad portfolio of launch customers and technology drivers to have a competitive space program.
Korea may succeed in the short term, but in the long term, I seriously doubt that a future Korean space program will succeed over Brazil's. You can attribute that claim to physics since no serious space player will choose to inefficiently launch their satellite from the Northern latitudes when they can launch from the equator.
In the end, Korea will probably end up with a space program that primarily caters to Korean launch customers who will be forced to use the Korean launch site. And these launch customers will have to be heavily subsidized by the Korean government in order to recover the long term revenue losses received from a high latitude launch.
Though the Korean pride factor will be high, pride is usually not good for business.
7:18 am on April 11th, 2008 21
Launch site latitude doesn't matter for suborbital tourism. For orbital operations, I agree that launching from northern lattitude isn't ideal — but it's certainly not a show-stopper either.
Space tourism may well be the spark that finally opens up the space frontier, and when that happens, there will be new solutions for a lot of the world's problems — especially clean energy production. Capitalism is a very powerful force, and one that hasn't gotten to act in space much until now, so quit your idiotic blabbering about lattitude crap that everyone already freaking knows.
"Though the Korean pride factor will be high, pride is usually not good for business."
I assume your reference to your lack of national pride was meant in jest, but since we're talking stereotypes, your arrogant ignorance is deliciously American. Could you supersize that please? We just love eating your shit.
7:56 am on April 11th, 2008 22
Dada,
Seeing that your posting is entirely based upon feel-good junk science and personal attacks, it is quite clear that you have nothing to add to this space debate.
And since Anti-Americanism seems to be your real calling, I am sure one of the GI Myth blogs needs your attention.
8:39 am on April 11th, 2008 23
"And since Anti-Americanism seems to be your real calling, I am sure one of the GI Myth blogs needs your attention"
He is only Anti-American becaue of Shattered, right Dave in Songtang?
I am not suprised that non-Korean (Kownnabe's) will sell their souls to Korea, but they do so cheeply. They lose all face for some scaps of kimchi, and the "honor" of licking Korean boots.
8:55 am on April 11th, 2008 24
Do I have to prove how fabricated your idiocity really is?
Like I said, the latitude of the launch point doesn't matter for suborbital flights (Unless 'suborbital' means going a significant way around the Earth, instead of returning to the launch site. That would be a point-to-point travel service, and you just have to accept the straight-line path to whatever the destination is).
Launching as near as possible to the Equator is beneficial when the payload is going to geostationary orbit, which necessairily is in the same plane as Earth's equator. That's what the European facility in Kourou, French Guiana is mostly about.
But there are concerns. A low equatorial orbit is not the best place for most other satellites. Those that OBSERVE EARTH'S SURFACE (imaging, mapping, environmental monotoring, etc.) need higher inclination orbits, so as to pass over as much of the surface as possible! Polar orbits are often preferred, as eventually they will pass over everything, but you get no advantage from Earth's rotation when launching to them.
AGAIN, when orbital tourism becomes practical, this will also be important. A low equatorial orbit goes over the same (mostly ocean) area all the time, which WON"T PLEASE PEOPLE WHO'VE SPENT SIGNIFICANT MONEY FOR A GOOD LOOK AT THEIR PLANET! (The only advantage is that a landing at the launch site is possible on every pass as well. This is not true at higher inclinations, depending on the ship's re-entry cross-range. You may have to wait several orbits to be able to get back to the launch point.) Again, polar would be ideal, but some compromise would be likely!
FURTHERMOR, unless your launcher is single-stage, or has a flyback first stage, equitorial launches must have open sea to the east, for safe first stage impacts, further limiting the number of places you can launch from! ALSO, Equatorial launch sites have component storage issues because the weather is generally hot, humid and wet and launches get scrubbed because of not infrequent tropical storms!
"it is quite clear that you have nothing to add to this space debate."
Oh I am sorry… I didn't know you were debatin. To me it sure sounded like a bitter loser with low IQ trying to sound all smart about crap even a 6th grader already knows.
9:02 am on April 11th, 2008 25
thereyouhaveit = shattered
11:21 am on April 11th, 2008 26
TheBreast = DoDo
BTW, TheBreast
"Do I have to prove how fabricated your idiocity really is? " LOL
fab·ri·cate (American Heritage Dictionary)
To concoct in order to deceive: fabricated an excuse.
So TheBreast, you are saying that his idiocity is concocted. LOL
"We just love eating your shit."-DoDo
I guess you are what you eat. LOL! Open wide! LOL!
Hat tip to ThereYouHaveit.
11:30 am on April 11th, 2008 27
If any of you are wondering how a Dodo, like Dada/TheBreast, is suddenly acting like he knows something. Just look here. His whole arguement with Jax is one big cut and paste.
hxxp://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/08/09/1938.aspx
Dodo, tsk tsk tsk. Didn't you learn anything from all ths scandals from Korean higher education. Cheating and stealing other peoples ideas is not how you get ahead. No wonder Korea doesn't have any world class scientists and NASA would't touch a Korean with a ten foot pole. LOL
"To me it sure sounded like a bitter loser with low IQ trying to sound all smart about crap even a 6th grader already knows."
Speaking of bitter losers, who try and sound smart but don't know anything, Dada/TheBreast, why don't you make your own arguement, instead of copying from the internet. LOL!
11:51 am on April 11th, 2008 28
Heh heh heh…
Some of you guys crack me up. Space tourism and nationalism aside, there are a couple of things that should be injected into the debate.
Unlike many other countries spending a lot of money on a space program, Korea has given its citizens a uniformly high standard of living first… and a little pride in a Korean space traveler is something they can probably afford. Why does everybody have to poo-poo it.
America builds stadiums instead of schools for the exact same reasons… yet not a word.
Further, Korea didn't buy a tourist seat on a rocket for thirty million. They bought (and stole) hundreds of millions of dollars of Soviet and Russian research and experience… recorded in detail and returned to very smart scientists and engineers in Korea waiting to apply it to Korea's domestic space program instead of trying to re-invent the wheel.
Now, can can a true for-profit space program in Korea succeed? Who knows. Ten years ago, Korea made cars that everyone laughed at. This year, two of the top ten cars in America were Hyundais… one was American.
One thing is for sure… Korea will never have a space program if Korean citizens don't support it as a group…
…and this is most probably a first step to getting everyone on the Program (as in Olympics, World Cup, Recycling, clean bathrooms, quality production, etc).
Time will tell.
1:27 pm on April 11th, 2008 29
"America builds stadiums instead of schools for the exact same reasons… yet not a word."
Chickenhead, stick to the jokes. You have been in Korea too long and have Kimchi of the brain. Can you show, anywhere in America, where there was a choice of either a stadium or a school? It isnt a zero sum game.
Sometimes, politicans and the public choose neither and sometime both,and in between. Anyway, if you don't like the system in American, I suggest you don't do anything about it. Instead, I suggest you live in Korea to achieve your "Korean dream". You can have crappy schools and crappy stadiums.
Oh, and building stadiums or building schools, there are lots of words. Words from every interestd party. America is thriving with community involvement for those who choose to get involved. Do you get invovled in community issues in the "dream land"?
4:19 pm on April 11th, 2008 30
One more thing Chickenhead. No offense meant. I do think you are funny and I am not interested in a flame war. If I sounded impolite in my comments (I reread them and I think that they sound that way ), I didn't mean that.
A lot people, not just Koreans, like to point out all the flaws of America. I like America. I have spent quite a bit of time there it's nice. The flaws are very real, but you should find out first hand for yourself.
God Bless
4:49 pm on April 11th, 2008 31
shattered,
Miller Park… $310 million in public funds (at least)… at the same time there was a "temporary" cap on school revenue… which, of course, was made permanent around the time of construction.
How about private funding? Well, big American companies could dump money into education instead of vanity stadiums in hopes of a long-term return on investment through a better educated American workforce…
…but, no… it's easier to hire Asian engineers… or outsource.
shattered… just because I mostly say positive things about Korea, it doesn't somehow give me "Kimchee of the brain".
When Americans criticize other countries for things they, themselves, are guilty of, it comes off much like the grossly fat chick telling you not to eat so many doughnuts. This goes double when they don't even realize they practice the object of their criticism.
As in your Post #4, criticism of Korea's "space tourist" may well be valid (presuming there was nothing learned) but using it as a stepping stone to attack Korea and Koreans in following posts makes you sound rather foolish.
Care to comment on Korea's uniformly high standard of living or ability to make better cars than America?
5:21 pm on April 11th, 2008 32
"Oh chickenhead!… I am sorry… I am sorry… I didn't mean it……" – shattered/thereyouhaveit.
6:08 pm on April 11th, 2008 33
Shattered,
Brazilian people don’t expect me to be loyal to Brazil. I’m a foreigner here and they know that.
I was born in Korea (BTW Songtan) and I came here when I was a boy, but I do respect Brazilian culture and law and they are more than happy because of that.
Foreigners will always be foreigners everywhere, even in USA. Do you remember what happen to the Japanese-americans people during the WW2? They were confined in camps despite of their American origin. They called themselves Americans, but look at what happened ….
In football matches between Brazil and Korea I’m a fan of korean football team, and Brazilians accept it as normal.
“Though the Korean pride factor will be high, pride is usually not good for business.”
It depends, americans often uses the pride factor to promote their business. In late 80s American car makers were suffering from Japanese car makers competition and used the pride factor to try to fight back the Japanese. Do you remember the slogan “proudly American”? I’m a mountain biker and I know that Cannondale still uses this slogan in their bikes.
Obviously, relying only on pride does not assure business success, but this can be used as marketing strategy (together with other more important elements like quality) to achieve the success.
As ChickenHead wisely pointed out, korean government is using this event to gather support from korean citizens to the korean space program, just like Brazil did whet they “bought a ticket” to Pontes to space.
8:23 am on April 12th, 2008 34
"Care to comment on Korea’s uniformly high standard of living or ability to make better cars than America"
Show me what you are talking about? At least post link to the list that has two Korean cars in the top ten. A lot of what you say lacks any proof. Or at least a link.
11:45 am on April 12th, 2008 35
Come on, shattered…
Would Consumer Reports be a good enough source for you?
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/new-cars/…
12:58 pm on April 12th, 2008 36
GI Korea, can you remove comment #36, I didn't make that comment. (tsk tsk Dodo/theBreast)
"Come on, shattered… "
Come on Chickenhead. It's a fair question to ask for you to show me what you are talking about.
You said: "ability to make better cars then America"
Actually CR is not good enough for me. You were talking about "better cars" and CR is looking things not directly related to quality, like roomy interior etc. I do trust JD Powers. The JD Powers long term vehicle dependabilty survey is a much better indicator of quality.
In its "top ten" doesn't list any Korean auto makers, but it has four American auto makers. The KIA (Killed in action) is at the bottom.
hxxp://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2007130
I prefer Japanese cars.
2:16 pm on April 12th, 2008 37
Very well.
A frame welded around one of those Korean farming motors might not break for years and years… but that wouldn't make it the best overall car.
But, your point is valid. Reliability is an important factor… especially when applied to a Korean space program.
According to JD Powers, Ford, GM, Chevy and Hyundai are within a few percent of each other in dependability… likely within the margin of error of the survey.
(Interestingly, Porsche is way down the list with Dodge and Chrysler. Based on this study, my Father's Oldsmobile is a more desirable car than a Porsche. Hmmm… a lot of high school students in the 80s driving daddy's old beater never fully appreciated that, I think.)
I guess in the end, it is all how you measure it.
Perhaps we should continue this discussion in a few years to see if Korean car makers continue to improve and if Korea gets serious about its space program.
I have a feeling both will come true… but that is opinion.
8:19 pm on April 12th, 2008 38
Though I highly disagree with Shattered’s usual trolling, I have to give him credit for pointing out that Dada figured out a way to plagiarize “Space for Dummies.” But Dada’s reliance on oversimplistic explanations of space operations only gives you the notional view. Getting past the trolling to more carefully examine Korean space dynamics will show Dada’s argument to be disingenuous.
Though I hate to blog about technical details (don’t want to bore the audience), I will go down that road in this case. For those of you who know me personally (or enjoy my postings), I can assure you that my “idiocity” is curable with the knowledge I gained through seven plus years of US Government aerospace work experience and a graduate education in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida … Go Gators!
For those who have lost track, the technical aspect of this space debate between me and Dr. Yu was in regard to Korea’s ability to establish a viable space program in comparison to other countries like Brazil. Since Korea actively seeks to compete in the Asian market sector, one can assume that Korea also wishes to have a competitive space launch program.
Suborbital flight is nothing new, and many countries (including Korea) have been conducting suborbital flights for scientific purposes. But if you really want to have a viable and competitive space program, you have to be able to provide the full range of launch services (to include access to all orbits and all types of payloads).
The most profitable payloads are communication satellites going into geosynchronous orbit. Like I said in my previous posting, Korea’s geographical location prevents access to geo orbit, so unless Korea plans to lease an equatorial launch site (hint: extremely expensive), then one should not expect Korean competitiveness in this particular market.
The other orbits (like polar) are usually the domain of government weather, science, and reconnaissance satellites. Like I said in my previous posting, the government subsidized nature of these particular launches will probably define the limits of the Korean space launch program.
In regard to suborbital or orbital space tourism, one should not expect that activity in Korea for a long time to come. The safety aspect is too restrictive since you still have to glide back to Earth. Safely gliding back to Earth requires a large degree of clear airspace and flat terrain. That is why all of the projected space tourism providers will probably be conducting their operations out of desert locales like Mojave, California. Anyone who understands Korean terrain should easily see why no reasonable insurer would indemnify this activity from Korea. By the way, did I mention that you need a large pool of extremely rich customers to see any return on investment?
So there you have it … my prediction on the future Korean space launch program.
5:12 pm on April 16th, 2008 39
Finaly a bit of truth from a Korean.
"The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) classified her as not "a space woman" but "a spaceflight participant under a commercial contract." In other words, she is a tourist who is visiting a space station owned by the U.S., Russia, the European Union and Japan. She is a tourist from the 36th country into space, at that.
….it's not entirely wrong to contend that the government is using W26 billion (US$1=W987) in taxpayers' money for an individual's space tour"
hxxp://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200804/200804160018.html
NASA wouldnt touch a nutbar like YI with a 10 foot pole. She has visions of grandeur.
What a narcissistic wack job.
6:01 pm on April 16th, 2008 40
I'd touch her with a 8.35 inch pole.
11:31 pm on April 16th, 2008 41
I wonder if those who criticize Korea for sending a “tourist” to space realize how foolish and groundless is their complain on korean decision to send Yi to space.
In fact, Korea does not have astronauts because Korea has no plan to send astronaut to space any time soon. At best, Korea can send some one to space 15 or 20 years latter, not now. Than why should Korea train astronauts now?
Establishing a whole astronaut training program now just to send Yi to space would be a huge waste of resource and time. That would be a real stupidity since it is more reasonable to send someone like Yi in an occasional event like this, and when Korea decides to establish a serious space program with manned flights to space, than Korea should start a astronauts training program.
7:59 pm on April 17th, 2008 42
Yi is supposed to be doing "important" Experiments. Here is one:
KAP06/Study of the possibility of using traditional Korean food in onboard food rations (testing during crew Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, with video coverage),
Source NASA
Eating Korean food and video taping it. What a joke.
Korean newspapers claim that Yi will preform 18 experements and NASA says there are only 15. Why do Korean newspapers feel the need to lie so much.
hxxp://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/iss_reports/reports2008/04-08-2008.htm
6:25 am on April 20th, 2008 43
[...] Korea’s first Astronaut/Space tourist (you pick one) has returned safely to Earth after spending 12 days in space: [...]
2:20 pm on April 19th, 2008 44
My prediction about the space tourst Yi.
"KAP15/Recording scenes of daily life & activities of the SFP, using Samsung Gx-10 and Samsung NV11 cameras."
Yi the tourist will be pimping samsung cameras. Not quite as glorious as uniting North and South Korea, but she gets cash (which is what she wanted all along according to Korean netizens).
Dada/TheBreast is gone after I exposed her. LOL. I am waiting to see her new sock. LOL
10:43 am on April 20th, 2008 45
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