South Korea test-launched its first homegrown rocket, known as Nuri, from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, 473km south of Seoul on Thursday. However, the rocket failed to put a dummy satellite into the low-Earth orbit (600-800 km). The rocket weights 200-ton, measures 47.2 meters in length and 3.5 meters in maximum diameter. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a televised speech at the space center that the homegrown rocket had completed all of its flight sequence, but that putting the dummy satellite into orbit remained an unfinished task to be tackled.
Moon said it was an accomplishment to send the rocket into space at a height of 700 kilometers, and he expects the next Nuri test launch, scheduled for May of next year, to be a complete success.
South Korea invested nearly 2 trillion won (1.7 billion U.S. dollars) for the past decade to indigenously develop the space launch vehicle.