Russian spaceship blasts off

A Russian spacecraft carrying South Korea's first astronaut has blasted into space from Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz TMA-12 rocket disappeared into the sky on Tuesday. 29-year-old Yi So-yeon is the first Korean ever to go into space.

The nano-technology engineer was one of two candidates chosen from 35-thousand applicants in South Korea.

Yi will conduct scientific experiments at the International Space Station during her 11-day mission, alongside two Russian cosmonauts.

The South Korean government paid Russia 25 million U.S. dollars for the right to send a Korean into space.