Korea Succeeds in Launching Homegrown Space Rocket

Korea on Tuesday succeeded in launching a fully homegrown rocket into space and became the seventh country in the world to put a satellite into orbit with its own technology. The country began developing the Nuri in 2010.

The Nuri "was successfully launched from the Naro Space Center in South Jeolla Province at 4 p.m. and placed a dummy satellite in orbit 700 km above the Earth 15 minutes and 46 seconds after launch," the Ministry of Science and ICT said Tuesday.

The three-stage rocket, officially called the Korea Space Launch Vehicle II (KSLV-II) "successfully communicated with the King Sejong Station in Antarctica to verify its location."

The rocket was designed to put a 1.5-ton satellite into orbit at an altitude of 600 km to 800 km. Development cost W1.96 trillion (US$1=W1,294).

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute plans to launch four more Nuris from 2023 to 2027. An upgraded version will be used to send a landing module to the moon in 2030.

"Now a path to space has been opened from" Korea, President Yoon Suk-yeol said after watching the launch at his office in Seoul. "It is the result of overcoming tough challenges over 30 years... [for Koreans] to reach out to space." He added the government will establish an aerospace agency to support the industry.