[Editorial] First Korean Astronaut and Our Dream

A South Korean will fly into the space for the first time in history next year. The first Korean astronaut, Ko San, 30, will be shot into the space next April onboard the Russian spacecraft Soyuz. It’s a small “space step” forward, but carries our hopes for the future with it.

The Untied States and Russia have spearheaded space development efforts so far. Thus, the event might convey little significance to some people. The treasure house for high-tech industries, however, lies way up in the space, which we have to explore for our advancement. Americans have never given up on space exploration, even faced with setbacks and the deaths of its astronauts. The space frontier has helped to make the United States what it is today.

The American government created 3,000 patented technologies from the Apollo project. 1,300 of them have been put to commercial use. Likewise, China has recently developed 1,000 new materials: 80 percent of them were borne out in the course of space exploration. The space adventure carries huge potential for wealth generation. We can, for example, develop the surface of the moon, semiconductors tested in a weightless and vacuum environment, and new drugs. Futurist Alvin Toffler says that the space adventure will bring about a revolutionary turning point in wealth creation. He projects that $1 investment in space exploration generates $7-12 in return.

South Korea pulled itself up from the ashes of war to become one of the top 10 traders in the world. Now, we are just starting as we did before. The event will serve the nation as a springboard into a much wider, brighter future in the space. We have the potential, and we have proven it in other areas.

Construction of the NARO Space Center will be completed next year. The center will pave the way for advancement of South Korea’s space power. Soon, we will send our astronauts not on a borrowed ship, but on a spaceship built by our own hands. When we successfully launch a satellite into space on our own, South Korea will joint the other eight countries that have already made the accomplishment: America, Russia, France, Japan, China, the U.K., India, and Israel.

The universe does not exist light years away from us. It’s a new world where we can achieve great advances. We convey our best wishes to Mr. Ko and the future of South Korea.