BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AFP) — South Korea's first astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts were to dock their Soyuz space capsule Thursday with the International Space Station (ISS).
"They are expected to dock at 1300 GMT," said Oleg Urusov, a spokesman for Russia's Federal Space Centre at the Baikonur cosmodrome.
"The crew slept, then they had breakfast and now they're checking their equipment. They're getting closer to the space station."
South Korea's Yi So-Yeon, Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, all first-timers in space, blasted off from Baikonur in the arid Kazakh steppes on Tuesday.
Mission commander Volkov is the son of former Russian cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, the two forming the first father-and-son space dynasty.
Asked on the eve of the launch what her reaction would be on reaching the ISS, an excited Yi predicted she'd cry out: "Like, wow!"
Urusov said Yi had already started some of the scientific experiments she has brought with her as her mission will only last 12 days.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said earlier that Yi's mission signalled the start of the Asian economic giant's "march towards space."
The Baikonur cosmodrome was built in Kazakhstan in the Soviet era and is now leased by Russia from the Kazakh authorities.
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