Korean Astronaut Program

The eight other finalists were:

• Park Ji-young (23, female, master's course student at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) [4]
• Yun Seok-oh (29, male, unmarried, official at Hanyang University) [5]
• Lee Jin-young (36, male, married, squadron leader at Republic of Korea Air Force) [6]
• Jang Joon-sung (25, male, unmarried, lieutenant at Bucheon Nambu Police Station) [7]
• Ryu Jeong-won (33, male, married, chief technology officer at IT Magic Co.) [8]
• Lee Han-gyu (33, male, unmarried, researcher at Samsung SDI) [9]
• Choi Ah-jeong (24, female, unmarried, master's course student at Seoul National University) [10]
• Kim Young-min (33, male, married, researcher at Korea Basic Science Institute) [11]

The winning pair was sent to Russia in early 2007 to undergo a 15-month training course at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow.

On September 5, 2007, Ko San was named as the prime candidate, whilst Yi So-yeon served as his backup.[12] However, on March 10, 2008 it was announced that the prime candidate would be changed to Yi So-yeon due to several violations of training protocol by Ko San. Ko San served as backup.[13]

On April 8, 2008 Yi So-yeon took off from the Baikonur[14] space center in Kazakhstan at 11:16 GMT aboard Soyuz TMA-12. She spent ten days conducting scientific experiments aboard the International Space Station.[15]

It cost South Korea approximately 26 billion won (US$28 million) to pay for the training and spaceflight.[16]

In 2014, Yi So-yeon resigned from the program to pursue an MBA, which was incompatible with continuing as an astronaut.[17]