[Yonhap News Photo]
SEOUL -- A rocket with South Korea's first home-made booster engine will be launched in late October in a test flight that has been delayed due to technical glitches. It is designed to reach its height in five minutes and fall in waters between South Korea and Japan.
The single-stage rocket with a 75-ton thrust engine will be launched between October 25 and 31 at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. If the test flight is successful, South Korea will launch a three-stage Korea Space Launch Vehicle-2 (KSLV-2) rocket using four thrust engines in 2021.
Three space rockets have been launched but two fired in 2009 and 2010 failed to reach orbit. The third one using Russian technology put a satellite into orbit.
There has been slow progress in the country's space program as other countries are reluctant to transfer core technologies. Under a new roadmap, South Korea plans to send an unmanned orbital probe to the Moon by 2020 and land an unmanned lunar probe to the surface of the Moon by 2030.
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