| The Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II (KSLV-II), also called Nuri, lifts off from Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, southwestern Korea, June 21, in the country's second attempt to put satellites into orbit. Yonhap |
Korea successfully launched its locally developed Nuri space rocket Tuesday in a second attempt to put satellites into orbit, reaching a major milestone in the country's space program.
The 200-ton Nuri, also known as KSLV-II, blasted off from the Naro Space Center in the country's southern coastal village of Goheung at 4 p.m. and successfully completed its flight sequence, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.
The rocket also deployed satellites at the target altitude of 700 kilometers as planned. Of those, a performance verification satellite successfully reached its orbit, according to officials.
"We have arrived at a monumental moment not just in Korea's science technology history but for Korea's history as well," Science Minister Lee Jong-ho said in a briefing at the space center.
Korea has become the seventh country in the world to develop a space launch vehicle that can carry a more than 1-ton satellite, following Russia, the United States, France, China, Japan and India.
It also means Korea has now secured the key independent technology for developing and launching space rockets carrying locally manufactured satellites, opening up a new era in the country's space program.
Tuesday's liftoff was the second launch of a Nuri rocket after the first attempt ended in a failure to deploy satellites.
In October, the first Nuri successfully flew to its target altitude of 700 kilometers but failed to put a dummy satellite into orbit, as its third-stage engine burned out earlier than expected.
KARI engineers reinforced an anchoring device of the helium tank inside Nuri's third-stage oxidizer tank.
This time, Nuri was loaded with a 162.5-kilogram performance verification satellite meant to test the rocket's capabilities, and four cube satellites, developed by four Korean universities for academic research purposes, along with a 1.3-ton dummy satellite.
Korea, a relative latecomer to the global space development race, has invested nearly 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in building Nuri since 2010. Korea's rocket launches ended in failures in 2009 and 2010.
In 2013, Korea successfully launched its first-ever space rocket, Naro, though its first stage was built in Russia.
The country aims to conduct four additional Nuri rocket launches by 2027. Korea has also launched a preliminary feasibility study for the successor to the Nuri with the goal of sending a lunar landing module to the moon in 2031. (Yonhap)