South Korea has launched a rocket in its third attempt to place
a satellite in space from its own soil. The Naro rocket blasted
off from a launch pad in the southwestern coastal village of
Goheung Wednesday. Science officials told cheering spectators
minutes later that the rocket delivered an observational
satellite into orbit. Ju-ho Lee, the South Korean education,
science and technology minister, said that South Korea had
"leapt up a step" to become a space nation. |Russia designed the
rocket's first stage [Reuters] "The South Korean government will
use this overwhelming moment as a strong, dynamic force to
independently develop a South Korean space launch [programme]
and will concentrate more on space development, so that we can
go to space with our own technology around the year 2020," the
minister said. Wednesday's development came a month after the
successful launch of a North Korean rocket. Previous attempts by
South Korea in 2009 and 2010 failed to launch; last-minute
technical problems forced two rec