After a selection process that combined physical and mental tests with a TV poll South Korea has selected artificial intelligence engineer Ko San as its first astronaut. The Korea Times has gone to town on this with two news articles and an opinion piece on former boxing medallist Ko. He beat over 36,000 applicants to become the country’s first ever astronaut, it says, though not by boxing them. His eight day trip to the International Space Station in April aboard a Soyuz spacecraft will be the most expensive trip ever made by a Korean – costing 3.25 billion won per day (about £1.7 million).

AFP says Ko will conduct 18 experiments, including investigations on weightlessness and the human body and how organisms grow in space. South Korea is building its first space centre and hopes to complete it by the end of next year in order to further its exploration ambitions (AP). Although the Korea Times claims there were 36,000 applicants to the space programme, Nature’s previous coverage of the selection process reveals that only 3,300 people out of 10,000 invited to prove their worth by running showed up (subscription required).

Image: Soyuz and ISS / NASA