South Korea has successfully launched its first satellite with its own rocket into space, it was its long ambition to mark its identity in space as well. This is a big step in the country’s space programme which plans on sending a probe to the moon by 2030.
With this launch, South Korea has joined an exclusive international club one of only a handful of nations able to put satellites into orbit commercially the three-stage rocket called Nuri meaning the world was carrying a one-and-a-half-ton test satellite up to 700 kilometres above the surface of the earth
a first attempt last October failed when the rocket’s third stage malfunctioned that added to the anticipation of this launch bringing large crowds to the beaches facing south Korea’s Naru space centre they weren’t disappointed the engineers believe they’d fixed the problems and that this time Nuri will become the first homegrown south Korean rocket to put a satellite in orbit
70 minutes after the launch the country’s science minister was able to claim success by saying
‘fellow Koreans the sky of the Korean universe has been open wide now the government plans to increase the technical reliability and stability of the Nuri rocket through four more launches by 2027”.
This launch has further accelerated the pace of rocket development on the Korean peninsula North Korea says it launched its first satellites years ago but many analysts believe that was just a cover for the development of its long-range ballistic missiles
