S. Korea to launch first space rocket on Aug. 19

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's first space rocket will be launched on
Aug. 19 following repeated delays caused by the Russian-made first stage booster,
the government said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said engineers concluded that
the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) could be launched safely following the
successful "hot fire test" conducted late last month.
"The date was reached after close consultation between South Korean and Russian
engineers and approved by a local review panel," said Lee Sang-mok, deputy
minister of science and technology policy. He noted, however, that depending on
weather conditions the launch date could be set back to Aug. 26.
The blastoff date was originally scheduled for July 30 but was pushed back 12
days after Russia said it could not conduct the critical fire test on time. It
was again postponed early last week following the discovery of an abnormal spike
in revolution numbers in a support booster pump in the engine that has since been
discovered to have been caused by a diagnostic glitch.
South Korea, which has no experience in the launching of a space rocket capable
of carrying a satellite into orbit, has been working with Russia to build the
KSLV-1. Russia's Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center is
responsible for building and testing the main first stage rocket.
The rocket, developed at a cost of 502.5 billion won (US$404.7 million), stands
33 meters tall, has a diameter of 2.9 meters, weighs 140 tons and can generate
170 tons of thrust.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)