Scientists have squeezed pickled cabbage into tubes for her, department stores have mounted exhibitions in her honour and television companies have spent millions to report on her every move. Yesterday the excitement reached its climax as a 29-year-old scientist blasted off from a Russian cosmodrome to become the first Korean in space.

The Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft carrying Yi So Yeon and two male Russian cosmonauts took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan yesterday morning, bound for the International Space Station. For the Russian space programme, it was a routine launch, but in South Korea it was a moment of national rejoicing, snatched from the jaws of shame.

South Korean newspapers have repeatedly pointed out that yesterday’s launch makes the country only the 37th nation to send a citizen into space. In a country that strives to outdo its international rivals in all fields, it is deeply significant.

The South Korean television company, SBS, is spending ten billion won (£5.18 million) on a series of live broadcasts of Ms Yi in space.

The Korea Food Research Institute and the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute have spent years turning traditional South Korean delicacies into a form that can be stored and eaten in zero gravity, including steamed rice, red pepper paste, doenjang fermented bean soup, green tea, red ginseng tea, instant noodles, sujeonggwa cinnamon punch and, above all, kimchi – the pungent pickled blend of cabbage, chilli and garlic that is the national dish.

Department stores in Seoul are expecting a demand for telescopes, books about space, and model spacecraft. The Korea Aerospace University, which could be said to have a vested interest in such things, predicts a boost to the economy of some 478 billion won from Ms Yi’s 11-day space trip.

Any such help would be welcome, for the seat on the Soyuz is costing the Government 26 billion won.

This year the project was in crisis after the first choice as astronaut was sacked in a scandal that carried whiffs of space espionage.

Last month Ko San, a 35-year-old computer engineer and amateur boxer, was replaced by Ms Yi, his understudy, because he repeatedly broke rules imposed on cosmonauts by the Russian space authorities. According to the South Korean Government, he “accidentally” sent a pilot’s training manual back to Seoul in a package of personal possessions. A few weeks later, he was caught with a spaceship control manual that, as an accompanying scientist, he had no right to read.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute makes no secret of the fact that it regards yesterday’s launch as the first step towards its own manned missions – for which Russian training knowhow would doubtless be very useful.

But it insists that Mr Ko’s actions were a matter of overzealousness rather than deliberate theft. In an apology “to the Korean people”, Mr Ko said: “I just wanted to know more about the ship in which I would fly to space in order to become a real astronaut, not a tourist.”

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