During the International Astronautical Congress, SGAC’s Bee Thakore had the privilege of talking with Korea’s premiere astronaut So Yeon Yi. Bee relays the conversation here for the benefit of all at SGAC members who So Yeon Yi would like to share her experience with.
Bee: What inspired you to be an astronaut? Did you always want to be one?
So Yeon Yi: Space inspires all students especially those who are interested in Technical engineering – they dream about space. When I was young, I saw cartoons, movies and dreamt about the visionary things one sees in these. I thought space would be a reality in our lifetime and that we will go to space via trains in large numbers. As I concentrated in later years in school, I forgot my dream. I studied Science hard at middle school, but there was no space program in Korea in those days. One day I read in the newspapers that Korea will be starting a space program and that it is working on its own rocket and later plan for human spaceflight. So, I though maybe one day I will be a part of it…
I studied really hard to research and my interests lay in finishing my phd. I was very dedicated to my experiments and sometimes even forgot lunch. Once the possibility became real seeing a call for astronauts, I though maybe I can conduct experiments in space!
Bee: Several of our SGAC members have applied to the current calls for astronauts from their space agencies and are making great progress. Could you describe how it was for you during the selection and training process?
So Yeon Yi: The first call had 36000 applicants- all had great qualities and were superb individuals. I did not think I would make it. I was honoured to compete with them during the rigorous selection process. The training and selection strengthened us as a group and I value all their support even now.
Bee: Were you very excited at the time of lift off? The whole country and world had its eyes fixated on the event!
So Yeon Yi: We had gone through so much training that it was almost well rehearsed in terms of what we had to do. I tried to think that ‘this is real’ during training all the time, so I was not nervous at all during launch. But even at that time I couldn’t believe that I was about to fly!
Bee: So any advice for our aspiring astronauts?
So Yeon Yi: Enjoy what you do. Compete in the selection process and enjoy it. It helped me immensely to make it all the way. There is a proverb in Chinese that goes “Person who does his/her best cannot like it and the Person who does not like it cannot do his/her best”.
Delegates from SGC 2008 present So Yeon Yi with the International Humans in Space Flag designed by the Case for Humans SGC team
Bee: Can you share some of your experience of working with the Russian Space Program and your time at the International Space Station?
So Yeon Yi: I learnt Russian before I went to Star City for the training. I concentrated on the exercises and kept focused on the procedures as it is a very rare chance to get to fly. Just after arriving at the ISS, I experienced some motion sickness, but recovered soon after. It took me 2-3 days to get acclimatized and adjusted. The ISS is close to the Earth, but it is in a very, very different environment. On Earth, because of the atmosphere all the stars in the sky almost appear as very similar shades of colour. But when one looks out of the ISS, due to the lack of the atmosphere, the stars look blue, some look green or white – depending on their temperatures!
Bee: Fascinating! Did you see any other unusual phenomenon?
So Yeon Yi: The most stunning was lightning. On Earth, Lightning is seen to be discharged from clouds towards the land. The same takes place in the outward direction to space too! It was actually very spectacular but also frightening. I witness lightning several times.
Bee: As a researcher, you must be very eager to find out the outcomes of your experiments in space. Can you tell us about the research?
So Yeon Yi: I conducted several experiments but as a lab researcher. There are several specialists for whom I conducted experiments – for e.g. I studied change in genome of fruit flies during my flight. I am not a PI (Principal Investigator), but I reported thoroughly on what happened, what problems I had and how they were solved. So a lot of the results will depend on the conditions and what all happened during the flight.
Bee: Would you like to travel to Moon or Mars?
So Yeon Yi: Definitely! I pray that they pick me for Moon. I would love to see both Moon and Mars.
So Yeon Yi with SGAC Members and supporters at the SGAC Exhibit Area during the International Astronautical Congress 2008 in Glasgow
Bee: What do you plan to do now that you have attained your dream of being an astronaut?
So Yeon Yi: Before becoming an astronaut I was not as aware of the strides that we need to bring in our educational systems and how important it really is to provide the young people -students in schools and colleges with the right tools and above all, inspiration. I am considering furthering research and being very active in inspiring the young generation.
Bee:You have all our support for that noble ambition! If you would like to leave the general public with one last message, what would it be?
So Yeon Yi: I would like everyone to remember that ‘Earth is also a planet’ and is surrounded by space. Space is the origin of birth, life and all that we are, have and treasure. We need and should keep that in mind.
We thank So Yeon Yi for taking the time to engage with the Space Generation and welcome her as the Official Astronaut of the Space Generation Advisory Council! We hope that we can help her in any way possible to inspire the next generation of space leaders. We also look forward to the Space Generation Congress and International Astronautical Congress in Daejeon in the Republic of Korea in 2009!
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