Failure in South Korean Rocket Launch

Another attempt to launch a space flight rocket by South Korea has failed which puts them further behind their Asian neighbors. This attempt by South Korea marked the second time they have attempted to launch a scientific satellite into orbit. KSLV-I “NARO”, the second rocket, exploded during ignition, just 137 seconds into the mission.

This failure has marked an already unimpressive start to the South Korean space program. Their inability to keep even an unmanned rocket on course gives the country a dim view of the planned missions with human travelers. However, the space program is confident that all bugs will be worked out of the system as they continue to work on new rockets.

South Korea is under tremendous pressure from their neighboring countries. China has had several successful launches of its space systems and Japan is not far behind. India and North Korea are also successful in their space programs, having launched several satellites into orbit in the past years.

South Korea has several satellites in orbit but they have always been launched from foreign soil with foreign made rockets. Their attempts at launching with South Korean made equipment is designed to give the country a shot in the arm and an economic boost.

South Korea has said it will plan a joint recovery mission with Russia for the rocket debris. The NARO rocket was partially made by Russia, so a joint committee has been formed to discuss and solve the failure issues.

The South Korean government has announced that they will attempt another launch as soon as the failure study has been completed and answers have been discovered. The first attempt by South Korea with this kind of launch was considered a partial success as the rocket performed as required but the satellite covers did not deploy as planned.