The nation’s first astronaut says she's fully ready to carry out her mission in space.

Yi Soyeon held a news conference on Thursday at Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center after completing a one-year training program.

The 29-year-old researcher is set to blast off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Space Center on April eighth. She will stay aboard the International Space Station for a week and conduct scientific experiments before returning on April 19th.

She will be the third Asian and 49th woman in the world to enter space.

Yi was initially the back-up to the nation's first astronaut candidate, Ko San. But she replaced him at the last minute after Ko violated training rules.