South Korea has decided to put out an open application for the country's first person in space, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute announced Tuesday.
According to Digital Chosun Ilbo, the ministry said the opportunity to become the first two Korean astronauts will be open to all citizens over the age of nineteen, and to those with science and foreign language qualifications.
In the first stage of selection, it will narrow the field to 300 applicants, based on its review of peopl's resumes.
The second stage will include a written general knowledge and a physical exam, which will narrow the field to 30 people.
By next March- after a closer examination by the Air Force- five candidates should remain, with the two finalists to be picked by authorities in cooperation with the Russian Space Agency.
They will then go through space adaptation training at Russia's Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center from April 2006 to March 2007.
One of the two contestants will orbit the Earth for two days aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with two other foreign astronauts, then dock at the International Space Station, 350 km above the Earth's surface.
There they will spend seven or eight days performing pre-selected experiments, as well as ones elected via an idea contest among the young Korean public.
