**South Korea has successfully launched its first space rocket, which is carrying a scientific satellite.**The two-stage Naro rocket lifted off from an island off the south coast.
The launch was watched with excitement by millions of people in South Korea, but is being viewed with suspicion by the country’s northern neighbour.
North Korea was recently subjected to UN sanctions for its own rocket launch, which was widely regarded as a cover for a long-range missile test.
No North Korean satellite has been detected in space, although Pyongyang insists its rocket launch worked and the device is now orbiting the earth transmitting revolutionary melodies.
Huge leap forward
South Korea’s half-a-billion dollar bid to join the exclusive club of space-faring nations is an attempt to place a scientific observation satellite into orbit.
If successful in its mission, South Korea will become only the tenth country with the ability to carry out such launches from their own soil.
Before this, South Korea had always relied on other countries to put its satellites into orbit.
It initially planned to launch the rocket in late July, but delayed it several times due to technical problems. Tuesday’s launch, though, went according to plan.
The KSLV-1 rocket is 33m long and weighs some 140 tonnes. Its Russian liquid-fuelled first-stage is said to produce 1,700 kilonewtons of thrust at launch.
The second stage, which burns a solid fuel, was produced by South Korean engineers. It is intended to generate 80kN of thrust and is designed to place the Earth observation satellite into its final orbit just a few hundred kilometres above the planet.
Seoul has rejected any comparison with Pyongyang’s rocket launch and says its rocket is part of a peaceful civilian space programme.
But some security analysts have suggested that a commercial space programme could still alter the long-term strategic balance in North East Asia, as all rocket technology has potential military uses.