For Russian cosmonaut, space flight is all in the family

STAR CITY, Russia -- A Russian in line to become the first second-generation cosmonaut or astronaut to venture into outer space said Wednesday that there was no father-son rivalry in his family.

Sergei Volkov told reporters at Star City, the cosmonaut training center outside Moscow, that he hoped to do as well as his father, a highly decorated cosmonaut from the Soviet era. If his own school-age son wants to become a cosmonaut too, Volkov said, he will seriously discuss the matter with him.

"If someone decides to follow his father's footsteps, it's a tough decision," the 34-year-old first-time space voyager said. "It is hard to make that decision and there is absolutely no romance about it. It is just that you want to undertake this complex and interesting line of work."

Volkov is scheduled to fly a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station April 8 along with two others, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Yi So-yeon, a South Korean bioengineering student.

Yi, who is expected to become the first South Korean citizen in space, told reporters Wednesday she hopes to inspire young Koreans to study science and encourage peace between South Korea and North Korea.

She will also serve a traditional Korean dinner, she said, and may sing for her colleagues during her 10-day scientific mission to the space station.

"I hope all the Russian guys and the American guys will love my singing," she added.

Yi said her schedule for the flight was so jammed she couldn't remember the titles of all 14 scientific experiments she is expected to perform.

Some of her family members are nervous about the flight, she said. While she will be the first citizen of her country in space, she said, "for my mother and father I am just a daughter."

Referring to the spacecraft she will ride to the space station, Yi said she hoped to reassure them that "the Russian Soyuz is really safe, so don't worry about that." She said she would tell her mother, who prays for her every day, that "God will stare at me and help me."