Posts Tagged ‘naro’

Go, Naro, Go!

Wednesday, January 30th, 2013

The payload was only 220 lbs., but a launch is a launch and this one worked.

The AP puts it in context, via the Houston Chronicle

The first satellite launched from South Korean soil is working normally, officials said Thursday, a day after Seoul achieved its space milestone amid high tensions over archrival North Korea’s recent threat to test a third nuclear device.

A South Korean rocket carrying the satellite blasted off from a launch pad Wednesday in the southwestern coastal village of Goheung. Science officials told cheering spectators minutes later that the rocket delivered an observational satellite into orbit. In a brief statement Thursday, the Science Ministry said the satellite was working normally and transmitting data on its orbit.

A crowd gathered around a TV at a train station in downtown Seoul to watch the afternoon launch. “I’m proud we have entered the ranks of satellite powers,” office worker Hyun Day-sun said.