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(Rocket Launch) (5th LD) S. Korea stops rocket launch due to technical glitch
NARO SPACE CENTER, South Korea, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea suspended Wednesday the launch of its first space rocket with just under eight minutes remaining in the countdown due to a technical glitch.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), said mission controllers decided to suspend the launch of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) and dump its fuel. The rocket was scheduled for a 5 p.m. launch.
"There was a problem in the automatic launch sequence that caused the launch to be called off," said KARI head Lee Joo-jin, without going into details.
He said that no launch will take place within the day and that a new date will be set after consultation with experts from Russia, which made the first stage rocket.
The delay is the seventh time that the project -- started in 2002 under a cooperative arrangement with Russia -- has been delayed.
The KSLV-1, also called the Naro-1, stands 33 meters tall with a diameter of 2.9 meters. Its main first stage liquid-fuel rocket made in Russia can generate 170 tons of thrust. The second stage rocket made indigenously can generate 8 tons of thrust and is designed to place the satellite into proper orbit.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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