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Entire South Korean Space Programme Shuts Down As Sole Astronaut Quits

An anonymous reader writes The entire South Korean space program has been forced to shut down after its only astronaut resigned for personal reasons. Yi So-yeon, 36, became the first Korean in space in 2008 after the engineer was chosen by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to lead the country's $25m space project. Her resignation begs questions of KARI regarding whether she was the right person to lead the program and whether the huge cost of sending her into space was a waste of taxpayer's money.

38 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Informative

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  2. Not her fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe they should have, I don't know, trained a few other people as well?

  3. What's wrong with someone resigning after 6 years? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "Her resignation begs questions of KARI regarding whether she was the right person to lead the program.."

    Not at all - 6 years of service, why can't she resign?

  4. Management 101 by Kittenman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Always have a back-up.

    --
    "The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
    1. Re:Management 101 by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There were tens of thousands of applicants for the position of sole astronaut. I think they should check back with the runner ups and see if they need a job.

      And it's not like she was an active astronaut going to space all the time. She went once, then the rest of the time was mostly PR appearances.

      To shut down even one department over this seems to indicate that someone was looking to shut it down anyway and was waiting for an excuse.

    2. Re:Management 101 by Eythian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      She was the backup.

  5. So no engineers? Scientists? Designers? by Harlequin80 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If the whole project was dependant on the body they send in to space then they had bigger problems and they didn't have a space program at all. What they had was a person they put on a russian space ship and then FTA stuck in front of people to say what it was like.

    If that is the case and the program was a program of 1 person then why would she have stayed? No development, nothing interesting, no reason to be there.

  6. Re:begs FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Give up. Language evolves.

  7. She's hot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    With that being said, it's silly to rely on only one person for your ENTIRE SPACE PROGRAM. That's a lot of stress and, no matter how intelligent, one person cannot conceivably perform all the desired tasks/research/whatever else astronauts do.

  8. "matter of national pride " by Dorianny · · Score: 3, Informative

    The whole trip was a "matter of national pride " and little more than a PR stunt in response to China's space program. She spent 11 days on the ISS on what amounts to space tourism, the average stay for real astronauts is 2-7 months. After returning to earth her job has been little more than to be paraded around and to give speeches.

    1. Re:"matter of national pride " by TapeCutter · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Thanks, I was wondering how their "space program" managed to get someone into space for the ridiculously low price of $25M. Makes sense now, a "tourist" seat on a Russian Soyuz to the IIS costs around $20M.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  9. Re:begs FFS by GonzoPhysicist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not evolution it's erosion, we are losing the original meaning and gaining nothing.

    --
    horror vacui
  10. So no engineers? Scientists? Designers? by AHuxley · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Lots of nations tried different ways of getting into space. Some like the UK and Australia did deals with the USA.
    East Germany looked to the Soviet Union.
    Long term the only way for a nation to get into space is to do do India did. Fully understand every aspect of the basic science and have your own hardware and software production, then move onto the next easy stage of space technology.
    Other space nations will give you a free ride for the press or sell you tech but will not give away their own hard work.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  11. Re:begs FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Meanwhile, many other words and phrases over the centuries have lost the original meaning while "gaining nothing" and yet we're all still here!

    Language most certainly evolves with no regard to ones opinion.

  12. Re:begs FFS by vux984 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's not evolution it's erosion, we are losing the original meaning and gaining nothing.

    New words with new nuances, and reusing old worlds with new nuances happens all the time too. English is richer by far than it was 2 centuries ago. We may have gained nothing on this particular transaction, but we're far and away net positive.

  13. Not the first Korean in space... by rHBa · · Score: 3, Informative

    First Korean in space?!? One of these stories must be wrong then...

  14. Re:begs FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In this case language evolves through ignorance. We seek to counter that particular form of "evolution."

  15. Re:begs FFS by stoploss · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Give up. Language evolves.

    Sure. But that doesn't mean it should, at least not in every case. In this case, it shouldn't. Fighting back is appropriate.

    I beg to differ, and I will fight your efforts.

    "Beg the question" was a poor choice for the English name for the logical fallacy initially, and the entire issue can be sidestepped by using a self-explanatory term like "presumes the argument".

    The modern usage form, meaning "prompts the question", is perfectly cromulent and befits the parsing of the phrase.

    Give up the dark side.

  16. Re:begs FFS by Charliemopps · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's not evolution it's erosion, we are losing the original meaning and gaining nothing.

    If that were true we're still be speaking Sumerian.

  17. Re:begs FFS by Type44Q · · Score: 2

    collaqialsmisms

    Colloquialisms?!

  18. Re:She quit because... by Strider- · · Score: 4, Interesting

    She was afraid of heights!

    I've actually sat around and gotten drunk with a couple of astronauts, both of whom have spacewalked. Apparently you don't get vertigo looking down towards the earth, it's when you look into the void. (Note that the helmets are designed so that as long as you're looking ahead, it's not within your field of view.

    --
    ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
  19. Both were correct at the time of posting. by millisa · · Score: 4, Informative

    The old slashdot post about Ko San was correct at the time - Ko San was chosen over Yi So-Yeon to be the first South Korean astronaut and was still going at the time the first article on slashdot was posted. However, Ko San was accused of violating their security protocols and revealing secret information twice while training at the cosmonaut training center. This caused him to lose his spot on the Soyuz and Yi So-Yeon went up instead. Ko San left the astronaut program years ago, leaving Yi So-Yeon as the sole remaining trained astronaut.
    Ko San Bio, he is an interesting dude.

  20. Re:begs FFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I could care less ;)

  21. Re:begs FFS by njnnja · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Being against this particular transaction is not the same as being against the evolution of language. As far as I can tell, the new meaning of the phrase "begs the question" is the same as "raises the question," except with the additional nuance that the speaker/writer wants to sound like a person who is well read enough to have encountered the phrase in its original usage but, in fact, is not and has not. Being against that does not make one a grammar nazi or language Luddite.

  22. Re:begs FFS by DoomSprinkles · · Score: 4, Funny

    For all intensive purposes...

  23. Sounds like a joke by rossdee · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sth Koreas space program shut down because the Seoul astronaut resigned

  24. Re:Not the entire space program... by penguinoid · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...just the manned part.

    Well, the womanned part.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  25. Re:begs FFS by CODiNE · · Score: 2

    Prescriptivists always lose. Use defines the language.
    Sad to say. :-(

    --
    Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
  26. Re:begs FFS by gl4ss · · Score: 2

    The one astronaut was also the leader of the space program.

    so what? I mean, if the program consisted of anything else than just begging a ride for one person to ISS from Russia/USA/EU then the leader calling it quits would have not had any affect at all.

    but if the program consisted just of training her and her using 25 million dollars for a ticket to the ISS then sure, if she calls it quits then the program is at end - and she already went to the ISS so the program was a smashing success.

    doing a rocket of their own would need a fair bit more of cash and an actual space program.

    Now, the entire South Korean space program it seems consisted of just paying Russia 20 mil to deliver a bio engineer into ISS and back - and she's been in business school for the past 4 years it seems. ...but, why would you even call that a space program? just to piss on north korea?

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  27. Re:begs FFS by hey! · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sometimes the loss of an awkward construction is a gain for language.

    "Begging the question" was never a very good choice of terminology -- a half-baked translation from the Latin petitio principii. You might as well use the Latin because you have to know what the term means to have an chance of decoding its meaning; the words give no clue. "Asking ill-founded questions" or "asking premature questions" would have been better.

    "Begging the question" has *always* misled most readers and hearers, and we're better off with the new meaning, which *everybody* understands (although many dislike).

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  28. Re:begs FFS by lgw · · Score: 2

    The only inevitability is that the term "begs the question" is now and will remain ambiguous.

    The phrase should be abandoned, IMO. Use "raises the question" for the one, and "assumes the conclusion" for the other, or "beggars the question" if your audience has half a clue.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  29. Re:begs FFS by Kojiro+Ganryu+Sasaki · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I agree entirely.

    People who write "would of" instead of "would have" should be shot, though.

  30. Re:begs FFS by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you actually begged a question in the way its defined and you pointed it out chances are a very small subset of the population will now actually have a clue what you're talking about. Like it or not the common use of "begs the question" has changed and fighting it makes you look like a pedant.

    I find it hard to get worked up about this stuff when there are people out their who say things like "I could care less", when they mean they don't care at all.

    See what I did they're?

    How are we supposed to fix the more complicated phrases of English when we're losing touch of even the most basic grammar. You know it's bad when Weird Al has written a song about it.

  31. Re:She probably wants kids by Improv · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not every female wants kids ever. Nor every male. Sometimes personal reasons can mean "I want something different out of life", or "I am tired of the PR", or any other number of things.

    --
    For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
  32. Re:begs FFS by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 2

    People have debated whether language knowledge should be considered descriptive or prescriptive for centuries. I doubt you two chuckleheads are going to resolve this debate today. Nor do I think Slashdot is the ideal place to resolve this issue. But that's me.

    --
    That is all.
  33. Re:begs FFS by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Dost thou propose that thine language shall never evolve and change in any manner unless it be so approveth by thee and thine ilk of the Nazis of Grammar? Shall thine language become static and fixed as the firmament and the heavens? Or hath the pinnacle of grammarian excellence been such obtained as to negate further change, owing to it's divine revelation and celestial perfection?

    Would such change undo the works that man has wrought under heaven? Would thine countenance still continue as blessed and calm as days of yore? I beseech you, good sir, to ponder the myriad ways in which ones speech no longer resembles that of our forefathers, even as thou pines for a return to the olden ways.

    Methinks thine bloomers may have come become ill adjusted leading to your distemper. I prithee, settle thine dyspeptic mood and swallow your bile, lest ye strain thyself. These ill spirits do not become you, and place much strain upon your liver.

    I do believe the gentleman doth protest too much over matters of trifling importance.

    If you have ever said "let me google that", then you too are guilty of this. If you have ever used any expression which is newer than the dark ages, you're certainly guilty of this.

    Language evolves, and the fact that a second entire expression which sounds similar to the first is not the fault of the expression or the people who use it.

    Yes, there is the logical fallacy of "begging the question". But there is also the more modern "begs the question" implying "that causes us to ask this", and it has been in use for decades.

    Whether the grammar nazis among us accept or not is a different issue.

    So, yo dawg, chill and stop griefing, peeps be speaking differently than before. Deal with it.

    At best English is a bastardization of a several languages, thrown together with a hodge podge of rules which require you to know which language gave us the word and why, and it is entirely possible to construct phrases which sound similar but which convey an entirely different meaning.

    My advice to you, get over it.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  34. Re:begs FFS by Talderas · · Score: 2

    Technically correct is the best kind of correct!

    --
    "Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
  35. Re:begs FFS by painandgreed · · Score: 2

    It's not evolution it's erosion, we are losing the original meaning and gaining nothing.

    We still have the original meaning, but it is has pretty much been limited to college logic classes for most of the last century. Giving pedants and excuse to bitch on the internet has probably boosted the original meanings usage an order of magnitude. If anything, the new meaning has probably saved the old meaning from obscurity and erosion.