South Korea launched its first space rocket on Tuesday but failed to put a scientific satellite into its planned orbit in a setback for the country's nascent space programme. The launch was expected to rile prickly North Korea, which was hit by UN sanctions after it fired a long-range rocket in April in what was widely seen as a disguised missile test.
The payload separated from the second-stage booster about eight minutes after lift-off but did not enter its targeted orbit, project officials told a briefing at the space centre on South Korea's southern coast, 350 km (220 miles) from Seoul. "The first stage engine and the second-stage kick motor operated normally and the satellite separated, but it did not put it precisely in the target orbit," Science Minister Ahn Byong-man said.
Officials could not immediately explain what went wrong or what would happen to the satellite, but they said it did not have a booster mechanism to correct its trajectory. The officials called the project a "partial success" and said they would continue work on a second launch scheduled for next year. The South's launch came on the second attempt after the scheduled lift-off on August 19 was aborted because of technical problems.
The development of the rocket, the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, or Naro-1, depended heavily on Russia's Khrunichev space production centre, which built the first-stage booster, conducted tests and provided technical assistance. The satellite was designed to monitor the Earth's radiant energy. The Naro-1 was 33 metres (108 ft) long and the two-stage rocket was built at a cost of 502.5 billion won ($400 million). South Korea wants to build a rocket on its own by 2018 and send a probe to monitor the moon by 2025. It also wants to develop a commercial service to launch satellites.