South Korea sends rocket into space from new launch facility

William Atkins
Wednesday, 26 August 2009 18:31

Science - Space

South Korea made history on Tuesday, August 25, 2009, when it launched its first rocket into space from a launch site within the country. However, the satellite failed to make its intended orbit.


The satellite was sent into space using the Naro-1 rocket, formerly the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1).

It was sent into space from the newly built Naro Space Center, which is South Korea’s space center located on the central-south coast of the country.

The rocket was built by the national space agency of South Korea, Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), along with Korean Air.

After liftoff, the first and second stages of the rocket worked fine. However, the satellite separated from the rocket about 37 kilometers (22 miles) higher than was expected.

At the time of this article, it was not known by KARI officials whether this higher orbit will prevent the satellite’s mission to be completed.

The 33-meter (110-foot) tall Naro-1 rocket was built by South Korea, with the help of Russia.

The rocket is based on the first stage component of the Russian Angara rocket, which uses a Russian RD-151 engine, along with a solid-fuel second stage built by South Korea’s KARI.

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