Korea to launch its space rocket Nuri from mid-May to late-June

South Korea plans to launch its homegrown space rocket Nuri between mid-May and late-June in its third mission, the science ministry said Thursday, following the second successful launch last year.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), which leads the Nuri project, had initially proposed the launch date in early May, but the schedule has been delayed due to the belated delivery of satellites to be loaded on Nuri.

The presidential science advisory committee approved the launch plan, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The exact date will be set next month, the ministry added.

The 200-ton Nuri, also known as KSLV-II, will carry a total of eight satellites, including the country’s second next-generation small satellite and four satellites developed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, codenamed SNIPE.

In June last year, South Korea successfully launched the space rocket Nuri in the second attempt to put satellites into orbit, reaching a major milestone in the country’s space program.

South Korea has become the seventh country in the world to develop a space launch vehicle that can carry a more than 1-ton satellite, after Russia, the United States, France, China, Japan and India.

In 2021, Nuri successfully flew to its target altitude of 700 kilometers but failed to put a dummy satellite into orbit, as its third-stage engine burned out earlier than expected.