Astronaut Test Criteria Announced

The first round of selection for Korea’s first astronaut will be made by the end of next month. After the basic physical test and written examination that will be conducted this month, 300 candidates will be chosen out of all applicants.

The Ministry of Science and Technology announced the outline of the first-round selection process yesterday. According to the Ministry, applicants will have to go through the basic physical test, written examination and comprehensive assessment.

The basic physical test will be conducted in six cities including Seoul, Busan, Daejeon, Gwangju, Gangwon and Jeju, and will require male candidates to run 3.5 kilometers within 23 minutes and female candidates within 28 minutes.

Only those who pass the physical test will be eligible to take the written examination on August 6. This examination will measure applicants’ ability to carry out the mission.

The last stage will test candidates’ comprehensive knowledge covering judgment, mathematics and science, in addition to a separate English test, TEPS (Test of English Proficiency developed by Seoul National University).

The Ministry will finish its evaluation of the test results and application documents by the end of August and decide on the 300 people, who will go on to the second round of selection.

The chosen 300 candidates will take three more rounds of evaluation process until the end of this year before the final two is chosen. Only one candidate will be selected to be the first Korean spaceman who will take Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft and carry out mission at the International Space Station.

The application began on April 21 and will end on July 14. As of yesterday, about 33,000 people applied to be the first Korean to explore the space.

kunta@donga.com