The First Korean Austronout Woman

Yi So-yeon, the 2nd Asia woman and the first Korean to fly in space. She born 2 June 1978 (age 29) in Gwangju, South Korea. She has missions Suyuz TMA-12, Soyuz TMA-11.She studied at Gwanju Science High School and obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees and is now working as doctoral researcher in biotech system.

On 7 March 2008, she was promoted to train with the primary crew, and on 10 March the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced that Yi would replace Ko. This was after the Russian Federal Space Agency asked for a replacement because Ko violated regulations several times at a Russian training centre by removing sensitive reading materials and posting one back to Korea. On 8 April 2008, Yi was launched into space on board Soyuz TMA-12, with two Russian cosmonauts. She makes South Korea the third country to have a woman as its first space traveller.

During her mission, Yi So-yeon will carry out 18 science experiments for KARI, and will conduct live interviews and discussions with media from the International Space Station. In particular, she is taking with her 1,000 fruit flies in a special air-conditioned container box (Konkuk University experiment). She will monitor the way the changes in gravity and other environmental conditions will alter the behaviour of the flies, or their genome. Other experiments will involve the growth of plants in space, the study of the behaviour of her heart, and the effects of gravity change on the pressure in her eye and shape of her face. With a specially designed three-dimensional Samsung camera, Yi will take six shots of her face every day to see how it swells in the different gravity. She will also observe the Earth, and in particular the movement of dust storms from China to Korea.She will also measure the noise levels on board the ISS.

South Korean scientists created a special low-calorie and vitamin-rich version of kimchi for their first astronaut .

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Whoopi Goldberg The One Woman Show

Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Johnson in New York City and spent the first years of her life in a public housing project in Manhattan. She made her performing debut at age eight with the Helena Rubinstein Children's Theatre at the Hudson Guild. After dropping out of high school, she found work as a summer camp counselor, and in the choruses of the Broadway shows Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and Pippin.

In 1974, after a failed marriage, she moved to California with her young daughter and, the following year, helped found the San Diego Repertory Theatre and joined the improvisational theater group Spontaneous Combustion. It was at this time that she adopted her distinctive stage name and began to develop the character monologues that were to make her famous. After moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, she joined another improvisational group, the Blake Street Hawkeyes, acquired a following for her work as a stand-up comedian, and toured the U.S. and Europe with her one-woman production, The Spook Show.


Whoopi Goldberg Biography Photo
In 1983 the legendary director Mike Nichols saw her perform and, the following year, presented her on Broadway in a one-woman show of her own creation. The show was an enormous success, and brought her to the attention of Steven Spielberg, who cast her in the leading role in his film of Alice Walker's The Color Purple. Making her film debut in this coveted role instantly established her as one of Hollywood's leading actresses. Her performance in Ghost won her an Academy Award. She followed this with memorable performances in the box-office smash Sister Act and the critically acclaimed Robert Altman film, The Player. Her other film credits include Made In America; Corinna, Corinna; Star Trek: Generations and Boys on the Side. In addition to her acting roles, Whoopi Goldberg has hosted her own television talk show and has earned rave reviews for hosting the annual Academy Awards telecast.
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Col. Pam Melroy The Woman to Command a U.S. Space Mission

(NASA pictures)

Col. Pam Melroy, age 44, has been named as the commander of STS-120, a space shuttle mission that is planned to add two new components to the International Space Station.

Melroy is only the second woman to command a U.S. space mission. This ought not to be a landmark, but it is one of a sort. Men have done it 144 times, not counting the thirteen crews to occupy the station (where it gets complicated--one crew member, American or Russian, is the "Expedition Commander," while another (always Russian) is "Soyuz Commander"--it doesn't make much difference; they've all been male).


The larger question is how soon Melroy and her six crewmates will get to launch. Five shuttle flights are ahead of them in line, and the debate over launching the first of them, STS-121 on July 1, was described as "spirited." (The flight numbers may seem to make no sense, but a flight gets one when it's been put together, and that may be different from the order in which the missions fly. STS-121 will be followed by STS-115; STS-119 comes after STS-120, and--oh, I'll let it go.)

By : Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.

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