2006. 4. 21. 도전! (challenge!
April 21st, 2006, was the day my adventures started. The Korean government announced the first Korean Astronaut program and recruited applicants nationwide. Any Korean citizen older than 19 years old were eligible to apply for this selection process. The opening day of the application submission was National Science day in Korea, April 21, 2006. Of course, I wanted to submit my application on the very first day, so I waited until 12 AM on the evening of April 20 with my labmates. I tried to apply right after the clock hit midnight, but the website crashed due to high traffic, so I went out for a beer with my labmates.; the next morning, I realized several hundreds of people had submitted their applications. It was a little bit late, but I finally submitted my application on the very first day. The application was closed on July 14, 2006; 36,206 applicants dreamed of being the first Korean astronaut.
3.5 km run during the first round of the selection process
The official email Dr. Soyeon Yi received in October 2006, that she passed the first round of selection process.
2006. 10. 13. 245 / 36,206
The first round of the selection process was the application review, including resumes and essays submitted by each applicant. Through this process, 10,058 applicants survived and these joined the basic physical test - a 3.5 km race. To qualify, applicants had to finish the 3.5km run in 23min.for males and 28 min. for females. After this running test, surprisingly, only 3,238 applicants survived. Then the surviving applicants took tests in English, basic math, and science; only 500 applicants survived. The last test of the first round of the selection process was the primary physical exam. On October 13, 2006, the 245 surviving applicants received the email below.
Interview and physical activity test during the second round of the selection process.
The announcement to the 30 candidates who passed the second round.
2006. 10. 26. final 30!
The second round of the selection process was composed of interviews, physical activity tests, and psychological tests. Fortunately, I had a significant advantage in this round. All those tests and interviews were held on my school campus where I was studying.
On the night of Oct. 25, I received a call from KARI staff. They told me that I was qualified to be in the final 30 but they needed to check to see if I wanted to proceed to the following selection process. Of course, I answered “Yes!”; the next day, 30 surviving applicants received this announcement:
Experiment simulation test at KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute, aka Korean Space Agency).
Scuba diving in the hydro-lab at the GCTC and zero-g flight experience during trip to Russia of 8 final candidates
2006. 11. 23. the last 10!
The third round of the selection process started with a thorough medical check-up at the Air Force Aerospace Medical Center. The applicants were divided into three subgroups, and each group stayed at the medical center for the whole week to take all the different medical tests. In addition to the medical tests, we had opportunities to experience fighter jet pilot centrifugal force training and emergency ejection training. I was enjoying these exciting once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I almost forgot I was in a competition.
After the medical check, our ability to cope with situations was evaluated through scientific experiments, reasoning skill tests, English communication tests, and group tasks.
Through these tests, only 10 applicants remained, and the final selection process started on Nov. 23, 2006. The final round was the most exciting part of the selection process. We had camp training and also took some tests at the GCTC (Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center) in Russia. When I heard that I was one of the final 10 candidates, I was more excited about the opportunity to visit GCTC.
After the trip to Russia, there were only six applicants left.
Live TV shows to announce the final 2 candidates.
2006. 12. 25. merriest ever christmas!
December 25, 2006, was definitely the merriest ever Christmas in my life. On that day, I became one of the final two Korean astronaut candidates.
Soyuz simulator training at GCTC.
Sea survival training at the Black Sea in Ukraine with Russian Navy and Marine.
2007. 3. 7. gctc
My cosmonaut training in Russia started on March 7, 2007, at the GCTC(Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center). GCTC is located inside of the extensive Russian air force base in a small city called Star City(Звездный Городок, literally it’s star city in Russian), roughly 1 hour from Moscow. Training started with the Russian language class since I needed to communicate in Russian during the space flight. Nearly half of the training was in the classroom, so I felt like I was back in college again. The last half of the training was in the Soyuz space capsule simulator and ISS (International Space Station) simulator.
Sea survival training at the Black Sea in Ukraine with Russian Navy and Marine.
2007. 9. 5. 예비우주인 (back-up crew)
In the middle of year-long cosmonaut training, the Korean government assigned the primary crew member and the backup crew member between the two astronaut candidates. It was September 5th, 2007. An announcement was held at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Moscow; I became the backup crew. According to my journal on that day, I told my friends, “ I think I deserve to be sad today, but only today. From tomorrow, I will be pleasant Soyeon and will enjoy the rest of the training as Korea’s only backup crew astronaut.”
Primary Crew members who flew with Dr. Yi, Commander Sergei Volkov (center), and Flight Engineer, Oleg Kononenko(Right)
2008. 3. 10. 初心 (original intention)
On March 10, 2008, the title of my diary was “初心 (original intention).” On that day, I became the primary crew member after some changes. I became the person to fly to space. I tried to remember my original intention and recalled what I thought when I applied to the Korean Astronaut Program.
“In the spaceship in most SF movies I watched during my childhood, there was always only one female crew among many male crew members, and she usually was called ‘doctor’. I dreamed of being the doctor who conducts space experiments and helps other crew members”. Interestingly, I completed my Ph.D. right before my space flight, and I was the only female crew and doctor in the Soyuz spaceship with two Russian cosmonauts.
Tree Planting before space flight.
2008. 3. 26. quarantine
Two weeks before the launch date, all the crew members and support teams flew to the launch site in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and all the astronauts and support teams were quarantined in Cosmonaut hotel. Before having the Covid pandemic, it was hard for me to explain “Quarantine”, now we all know what quarantine is. Yes, we were separated from all other people and the environment so we would be ready for our launch on April 8th. Our press conference and even family visits were behind glass partitions. One sweet memory I remember is the chef at the hotel tried to learn how to cook Korean food from the local Kazahstanian-Korean people, and he cooked for me. Even if it wasn’t like the Korean food I had in Korea, I could feel their heart. In spite of the quarantine, we visited the assembly factory to check our capsule, which was also strictly quarantined from the outside people and environment, I heard it was safe. Every day, I could take a walk with my flight surgeon around the small park, which was almost like the hotel backyard. There were trees that were planted by all former astronauts before their launch; each tree had a name tag. I was so honored to plant my own tree with my name on it among all those astronaut heroes.
Final space suit check before heading to launchpad.
Valentina Tereshkova and Dr. Soyeon Yi at the launch pad on April 8, 2008.
2008. 4. 8. поехали! (let’s go!)
Finally, the date came! The night before, my flight surgeon advised me “Soyeon, please sleep as much as possible, though I know you cannot. Even if you wake up early, don’t get out of bed. I will come tomorrow morning to wake you up, then you can get out of your bed, okay?” I answered ‘yes!’, of course. In the morning, he knocked on my door, came in, woke me up, and asked “How did you sleep until now?” I said, “You told me to do so! I followed your order, sir.” He was an air force captain, so I joked like a soldier. We started such an important day by laughing. Still, I don’t know how I could sleep the night before on that day. After this conversation, I received an enema and took a shower, so I could be completely clean in and out to fly. Then I had to wipe my whole body with alcohol swabs before wearing white underwear. I had double layers of underwear, and put my flight suit on top.
A Russian Orthodox pastor came to our hotel before we left and prayed for us, making an interesting sign of the cross. It was almost like sprinkling water as we did during our childhood.
A lot of people were waiting for us outside of the hotel from some distance and cheered us up. Some journalists shouted questions from a distance; it felt so strange. On the way to Roscosmos factory where we put on our spacesuits, every single car pulled up on the shoulder of the road, and people waved to us.
The most surprising part of that day was meeting Valentina Tereshkova at the launch pad. When I got off the bus, she smiled at me and escorted me to the launchpad. It was a huge honor for me, to be escorted to my first spaceflight by the very first female astronaut in the world! Since then, she has been my Russian grandmother.
My commander, Sergei Volkov, flight engineer, Oleg Kononenko, and I sat inside of the Soyuz capsule, on top of the Soyuz rocket. We were ready to yell “Поехали!” as Yuri Gagarin did on his launch.
Carrying out the space experiments in ISS.
14 experiments were selected for the first Korean astronaut’s flight among hundreds of submitted proposals. 12 experiments were prepared by professional researchers at various research institutes and engineering schools, and two were educational experiments from Korean science textbooks. I had small science classes at ISS with those two educational experiment kits, which were left in the ISS after my leaving since my flight engineer, Oleg wanted to do it again for Russian students. Besides experiments, I did several cultural activities with and without TV interviews, using Korean flags and Korean souvenirs to cheer the Korean people on Earth.
South Korean Astronaut Shares Laughs, Space Food With Station Crew
By Tariq Malik published April 15, 2008
2008. 4. 10. finally, iss!
Two days after launch, after orbiting Earth ~30 times, we docked at the ISS (International Space Station). I still remember the moment we had to wait until the pressure check was completed. The progress bar was filling as time went by. It didn't take a day or a year, as I remember even less than an hour, but it felt like a million years until we really wanted to open the hatch and to cross over to ISS. It was like when you wait until the seatbelt sign goes off after your airplane arrives at the gate of the airport. It was just several minutes but we felt like years.
After having a welcome ceremony connecting with Mission Control on the Earth, I started my space experiment right away. I only had nine days to finish all my missions at ISS.
Cultural activities with Korean national flag.
The joint Expedition 16-17 crew and South Korean astronaut So-yeon Yi (bottom right) talk to reporters from the United States and Russia on April 15, 2008. Top row: (from left) Expedition 16 flight engineer Garrett Reisman, commander Peggy Whitson, flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko. Bottom Row: (from left) Expedition 17 flight engineer Oleg Kononenko, commander Sergei Volkov, Yi. (Image credit: NASA TV)
Photo taken by search and rescue team before arriving.
Photo taken by search and rescue team before arriving.
2008. 4. 19. 귀환 (歸還, return)
Time flies much faster in Space. The night before the undocking date, I really wished I could hide somewhere on the ISS; however, I couldn’t help leaving as planned.
Unfortunately, we had some abnormal situations on the way. We didn’t have a successful separation process for the Soyuz Capsule, which led us to have ballistic reentry with a much higher G force than normal reentry. Finally, we landed almost 500km away from the designated landing site. First, we waited for the search and rescue team to knock on our hatch; however, no one knocked after several ten minutes. We decided to open our own hatch and get out of the capsule by ourselves. Interestingly, the first to welcome our return to Earth were nomads in the plains of Kazakhstan. The grass around our capsule was all burnt, which showed that our capsule was still on fire after touch-down. Finally, one helicopter with search and rescue teams arrived and helped me and our crew members to fly back to GCTC via Almaty airport in Kazakhstan.