Astronaut hospitalised

2008-04-30 12:04

Seoul, South Korea - South Korea's first astronaut has been hospitalised with back pain possibly caused by the unexpectedly steep descent of her Russian space capsule when it returned to Earth, officials said on Wednesday.

Yi So-yeon was taken to a hospital on Tuesday and was forced to cancel a meeting with President Lee Myung-bak, according to the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute, where she works as a bio-engineer.

An institute official said her pain may be the result of the spacecraft's steeper-than-usual descent when it landed on April 19. A technical glitch apparently caused the capsule to land about 420km from its target on Kazakhstan's barren steppe.

"We are looking at various possible reasons for her pain," the official said on condition of anonymity, citing institute policy.

The three-person crew in the Soyuz capsule was subjected to forces of about eight times Earth's gravity for up to two minutes. Normal Soyuz returns have G-forces of about five.

Russia's Interfax news agency said the capsule entered the atmosphere improperly, with its hatch first instead of with its heat shields leading the way. As a result, the hatch suffered significant damage and the capsule's antenna burned up.

South Korea's Science Ministry said Russian authorities were expected to announce the cause of the flawed landing by the end of May.

Yi, 29, was to undergo various medical tests on Wednesday at the air force-affiliated Aerospace Medical Centre to determine the cause of her pain, according to the institute and the Science Ministry.

An official at the hospital said he could not comment on Yi's condition.

On Monday, Yi told a news conference after returning to South Korea that she had been suffering some back pain since the landing but that Russian X-ray tests showed her condition was satisfactory.

"I think I'll be fine after taking a rest," she said.

The South Korean government paid Russia US$20m for her flight to the International Space Station.

- AP