Nuri, Korea's first locally-developed space rocket, lifts off from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, Tuesday. Joint Press Corps

Nation becomes 7th in world to put satellite into orbit

By Baek Byung-yeul

Korea reached a milestone of becoming one of the world's space powerhouses, Tuesday, as the nation succeeded in launching its first-ever locally-developed rocket into space in its second liftoff attempt, according to the science ministry.

The Nuri, also known as Korean Space Launch Vehicle II (KSLV-II), successfully placed a 1.3-ton dummy satellite and a 162.5-kilogram performance verification satellite into a low orbit of 700 kilometers above the Earth, the ministry said.



"Nuri, which was launched at 4 p.m. today, was put into target orbit and successfully separated and placed the performance verification satellite in orbit," Lee Jong-ho, minister of Science and ICT, said during a briefing at Naro Space Center in Goheung, 473 kilometers south of Seoul.

"We announce the success of Nuri, a locally-developed space launch vehicle. The skies over Korea have opened wide. The country has made great progress in science and technology," the minister added.

The Nuri space rocket, launched from Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, flies into space, Tuesday. Yonhap

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) launched the Nuri space rocket at 4 p.m. According to the flight sequence, the first engine, second engine and the pairing separated before the rocket's third engine stopped at 4:13 p.m. to reach a target altitude of 700 kilometers.

The rocket separated from the performance verification satellite at 4:14 p.m. and the dummy satellite detached at 4:16 p.m. KARI's satellite control center then announced that Nuri successfully communicated with the King Sejong research station in Antarctica around 40 minutes after liftoff.

Researchers at Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) celebrate the successful launch of the Nuri space rocket at the institute's satellite control center in Daejeon, Tuesday. Yonhap

With the successful launch, Korea became the seventh country in the world to launch a space rocket using domestically developed technology following Russia, the United States, France, China, Japan and India to place an over 1-ton satellite into orbit.

"Korea now became the seventh country to launch our own space launch vehicle into space on our soil," the science minister said. "Our country is now able to advance into space whenever we want as we don't need to rent a launch site or space launch vehicle from other countries."