South Korea is preparing to launch its first rocket into space Tuesday morning and become the 10th country in the world to send a homegrown satellite into orbit from its own soil.
The Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) was scheduled to blast off from the Naro Space Center on the southern coast at around 5:00 p.m. (Seoul Time) following a series of delays, including a technical glitch that halted Wednesday's countdown with less than eight minutes remaining before blastoff, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The rocket, also called the Naro-1, was developed with help from Russia and originally slated to be launched in late 2005. The launch was pushed back to October 2007 and again to 2008 due to administrative and diplomatic reasons before being scheduled for liftoff in the second quarter of this year.
A "definitive" date was set for July 30, but this was pushed back to Aug. 11 and again to last Wednesday.
Seoul's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said a successful liftoff could bring the country to the cutting edge of aerospace technology, an area currently dominated by the United States, Russia and the European Union. It added that by showing the world that South Korea can launch a powerful rocket, Seoul can expand cooperation with other countries in the future.
"In the past, there was almost no country willing to work with South Korea because we did not have first-hand experience in the field of space exploration and had nothing to offer in terms of technology sharing," an official was quoted as saying.
The ministry said a full launch "rehearsal" conducted Monday showed the rocket was ready for liftoff. Seoul has notified both the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization of the launch so ships and airplanes can stay clear of the rocket's trajectory.
Weather conditions were favorable for launch, with a slight breeze and little chance of lightning.
"As of 10:10 a.m. engineers have checked the fuel tanks and oxidation agents and are injecting helium gas into the rocket that will control various valves," a government official was quoted as saying. He said a press conference will be held at 1:30 p.m. to announce the exact time of the launch.
South Korea spent 502.5 billion won ($402.3 million) on the 140-ton Naro-1, which stands 33m tall and has a diameter of 2.9m. Its main first stage liquid-fuel rocket, made in Russia, can generate 170 tons of thrust. The second stage rocket, made domestically, is able to generate 8 tons of thrust and is designed to push the satellite ― which will gather basic information on the Earth's atmosphere ― into orbit.