South Korea Launches Homegrown Rocket Into Space Following Delay

South Korea launched its first rocket and satellite made from parts sourced in the country, following a delay related to a technical glitch.

(Bloomberg) — South Korea launched its first rocket and satellite made from parts sourced in the country, following a delay related to a technical glitch.

Nuri lifted off from the Naro Space Center in the country’s southern coastal city of Goheung at around 6:24 local time and its eight satellites successfully separated into orbit, a live broadcast showed. The event went smoothly after being delayed a day to address a technical issue found by engineers less than three hours before launch.

The mission shows South Korea has the ability to send satellites into orbit from a homegrown space vehicle, as previous launches used rockets from other countries.

When South Korea launched a Nuri rocket last year with a test satellite, it became the seventh country to develop a space launch vehicle that can carry a more than 1-ton satellite, joining Russia, the US, France, China, Japan and India.

The flagship Nuri rocket stands at a height of 47-meters (154 feet), or about 12 storeys high. It’s slightly smaller than the Ariane 5 rocket by France’s Arianespace, which has a payload capacity more than six times greater.

South Korea plans to launch three additional rockets by 2027 as part of the Nuri project, which costs the country about $1.6 billion over a decade. The government aims to eventually send an uncrewed spaceship to the moon by 2031.

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