This is just too cruel. Ko San was unveiled as Korea’s first astronaut last year to great fanfare. Now he has been dropped for breaching Russia’s strict training facility rules, apparently accidentally.

According to Associated Press Ko committed two offences: accidentally sending his training manual home (and thus outside the training facility) and obtaining another manual he was not supposed to have via a Russian colleague. “The Russian space agency has stressed that a minor mistake and disobedience can cause serious consequences,” Lee Sang-mok, a minister at the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology says.

According to the BBC the Russian Federal Space Agency requested Ko be dropped.

This is good news for Yi So-yeon, who has been selected in his place.

As the Bad Astronomy blog points out one of the reasons this is newsworthy, sadly, is that Yi is female:

I wish this weren’t news, but a casual perusal of the list of space-travelers makes it clear it is. The good news is, in my opinion, soon this won’t be news. Women will travel in space as much as men, and eventually we’ll be an egalitarian space-faring species.

Kim Ji-young, head of the Korea Federation of Women’s Science and Technology Associations, told the New York Times, “She can be a role model and encourage Korean women who want to enter science and technology, where women have faced bigger walls in finding jobs than men.”

Congratulations to Yi, but I can’t help but feel for Ko. Obviously sticking to the rules is vital for astronauts, but to come so close to getting into space and then have it taken away from you must be devastating

Here’s hoping that Richard Branson will give him a free trip in his private space ship…