William Atkins
Monday, 06 April 2009 19:09
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 3
The country of North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday, April 5, 2009. Even though its second-stage failed, the launch is being condemned by countries standing firmly behind an imposed U.N. test ban.
The New York Times reports that U.S. president Barack Obama called the incident a
“provocative act” by North Korea. [New York Times: “
North Korea Seeks Political Gain from Rocket Launch”]
North Korea’s third long-range missile launch was in direct confrontation with a test ban imposed by the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council. Consequently, the Security Council, composed of fifteen member nations, discussed ways on Sunday to punish North Korea for its actions.
North Korea claims the missile had an experimental communications satellite as its payload and, as such, is a peaceful launch. The satellite, according to North Korean officials, was playing patriotic music as it flew over Japan. (Was that Japanese or Korean patriotic music?)
Other countries aren’t so sure about North Korean's continuing intentions with their rocketry program, and think the launch is part of the country’s long-range military missile technology.
Earlier, North Korea announced to the International Civil Aviation Organization that it was planning to launch communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 on a Unha-2 carrier rocket.
A three-stage rocket was launched at around 0230 UTC (11:30 KST) on Sunday. It flew in the direction of Japan and, in fact, flew over the northern portion of Japan.
However, its second stage failed to ignite and the first-stage of the missile dropped into the Sea of Japan, while the other stages and the payload fell about 1,300 kilometers (810 miles) east of Japan into the Pacific Ocean.
There were no reports by the Japanese of debris falling onto the country. The United States reported that nothing onboard the missile reached an orbit about the Earth.
Japan reacts to the launch and the passing of the North Korean rocket over their country. See page two.
