Why is Korea sending an astronaut into space?
On Christmas Day, two candidates, a man and a woman, were selected as the finalists in a competition to find the first Korean to go into space. As the process came to a close, it seemed as if all of Korea was becoming excited and ready to be involved in space development.But why is it important for a Korean to go to space? What do people actually do in space? Furthermore, what do astronauts do after they come back to Earth? Let’s find the answers to these questions.
Korea’s plan to send its first astronaut into space is part of a bigger project to increase people’s appreciation of science. Since Korea is a very small country with no special natural resources, Koreans must use science and technology in order to become more prosperous.
A knowledge of science allows Korean companies to create products that sell well all over the world. When Korean companies do well, the country becomes more affluent.
However, science appears to be out of favor these days. A trend has been reported that young Koreans are avoiding science and engineering. This means, among other things, that students who do well in school avoid science and engineering studies in college because graduates from those programs have a hard time finding jobs that pay a lot of money. However, if the brightest people continue to avoid science, the country’s capabilities in science and technology will never improve. That’s why the government, through the Science Ministry, came up with a plan to search for scientific ventures that Korea has not explored yet ― and decided that the biggest untapped field was space exploration. That is why Korea is sending an astronaut into space.
The government’s plan was to promote the astronaut’s selection process, as well as the space trip and what the astronauts do when they come home, hoping that knowing about the entire process will boost public interest in science.
Of course, you may be thinking, “Just how much will sending one person up in space help promote science?” That is a very good question. Raising people’s perception of science is not easy to do or measure, like counting the number of apples in a sack. But the government has a ballpark idea of what the project’s impact will be.
The two candidates who were selected in December will stay at the Yuri Gagarin Training Center in Russia for one year and receive the training needed to live in space. The process and the astronaut’s activities in space will be intensely watched by the media.
When sent into space, a person must be able to live in a space shuttle environment. The air pressure must be the same as on Earth, and oxygen and water must be brought up. To achieve this, state of the art technology is required.
Korea doesn’t have such technology yet. Although Korea has developed and launched a few satellites, no space shuttle has been built here. That is why Korea must borrow the expertise of the Russians to go into space. The only countries that have launched spaceships that actually carried human beings are the United States, Russia and China.
Humans have been going into space for about 50 years. As of now, about 400 people have made the trip, which is very expensive.
In Korea’s case, the total costs from astronaut selection to training to travelling to the International Space Station and back costs 26 billion won ($28 million). Only one of the two candidates will make the trip, which has a total flight time of 10 days. The cost of the trip itself is 2.6 billion won. You may say it’s a very, very expensive trip. Not many people, even in the future, will be given the opportunity to take it.
Since the costs are phenomenal, the government is doing its best to avoid criticism by making the trip valuable scientifically. The selected astronaut will be required to conduct a diverse series of experiments, so people will see that the trip is more than space tourism.
The experiments that the astronaut has to do have already been selected. These include testing how water freezes in space, how people write in a zero-gravity environment, how plants grow in space, and so forth.
When the astronaut returns, he or she will serve as a spokesperson for science promotion, one of the conditions for being selected. In other words, since the person will be receiving a lot of benefits, he or she will also have to take on certain responsibilities.
Now that you know why Korea is sending its first astronaut into space, what would it be like to become an astronaut?
The first Korean astronaut will be staying for a few days at the International Space Station, which is entirely different from Earth. Located about 350 kilometers (217 miles) to 450 kilometers from Earth, there is almost no gravity.
Gravity, as you may well know, is the force that pulls objects toward the center of the Earth and prevents us from floating out into space.
Because there is no gravity, people and objects float around like birds. Even water drops float and combine with each other to make bigger drops. Therefore, moving around doesn’t take much effort for astronauts. This is nice since they don’t have to use much strength, but it has a downside. Their muscles and bones become weak because they are not used enough. So in space, astronauts must deliberately exercise in order to keep their bodies healthy.
by Park Bang-ju, Wohn Dong-hee
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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