By Prensa Latina
Moscow : The successful separation of spaceship Soyuz TMA-12 from impulse vector Soyuz-FG launched from the cosmodrome of Baikonur, Kazakhstan Tuesday, put the first South Korean cosmonaut Yi-So-Yeon into orbit.
Together with her there are Russian cosmonauts Serguei Volkov and Oleg Koronenko, members of the 17th expedition to the International Space Station, said the Roscosmos Federal Agency.
The South Korean crew member will stay 10 days in weightlessness, and will return to the Earth on April 19 together with Russian Yuri Malénchenko and US Peggy Whitson, members of the 16th expedition.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-Bak talked on the phone Monday on the bilateral relations, and particularly on the first flight by a South Korean woman to outer space.
Experts from the Kremlin said both Presidents confirmed the will to continue the cooperation on high technology.
The telephone dialogue was made by request of South Korea.