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The Russian Soyuz space capsule lands with Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka of Russia, Flight Engineer Michael Barratt of the U.S. and Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberte in the vast steppe near the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Yuri Kochetkov/Pool

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    South Korea clips astronaut's wings after rule-break

    SEOUL
    Sun Mar 9, 2008 11:54pm EDT

    SEOUL (Reuters) - The man intended to be the first South Korean in space has been grounded for violating security protocol and will be replaced by a female biotechnology engineer, the science ministry said on Monday.

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    Ko San, 31, was dropped from the top pick for the April 2008 flight on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and is now the backup for the mission after he removed sensitive training material from a Russian centre, the ministry said.

    "The Russians emphasized the importance of abiding by the rules, as even small mistakes can bring about grave consequences in space," an official told a news conference, adding Ko appeared to have made innocent mistakes.

    Ko, a technology researcher and a bronze medal winner in a 2004 national amateur boxing contest, is being replaced by Yi So-yeon, 29, who is finishing her doctorate.

    Yi will serve as a payload specialist with two Russian cosmonauts for a seven or eight day mission to the International Space Station, the ministry said.

    The two were selected from a list of more than 36,000 candidates.

    (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Lee Jiyeon; Editing by Keiron Henderson and Alex Richardson)
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