SEOUL, June 21 (Yonhap) — The following is a chronology of major events leading to the development of South Korea’s homegrown space rocket Nuri, or Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II (KSLV-II), which was launched from Naro Space Center in the country’s southern coastal village of Goheung on Tuesday.
June 4, 1993 — South Korea launches the homegrown one-stage solid propelled science observation rocket, called the Korea Space Rocket-I, after three years of development.
July 9, 1997 — South Korea launches the homegrown KSR-II two-stage solid propelled science observation rocket. It adopted such advanced technologies as guided control and stage separation compared with the previous version.
Nov. 18, 2002 — South Korea launches the liquid-propellant science rocket of the KSR-III. It marked the first time that the country successfully built an independent liquid-fueled rocket, which laid the foundation for the development of small satellite launch vehicles.
March 26, 2001 – South Korea joins the Missile Technology Control Regime, an informal international association that oversees the proliferation of unmanned delivery systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
August 2002 – South Korea and Russia confirm plans to develop the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-I (KSLV-I) rocket, with a launch planned for 2005.
2005 – South Korea and Russia complete work on critical designs for the KSLV-I. The original launch date was postponed until October 2007.
June 11, 2009 – South Korea opens Naro Space Center. Launch pad certification is completed using KSLV-I GTV. A complete first-stage rocket arrives from Russia by plane.
Aug. 11, 2009 – After rounds of postponement, South Korea sets a new launch date for Aug. 19, 2009, following consultation with Russia.
Aug. 19, 2009 – South Korea halts the countdown of the KSLV-I with less than eight minutes to go before blastoff after the automatic launch sequence system detects a problem in a high-pressure tank.
Aug. 25, 2009 – The KSLV-I is launched and successfully enters orbit. But it failed to deploy a scientific satellite. An independent panel later confirmed a fairing assembly malfunction caused the failure.
March 2010 — South Korea kicks off the project to develop the KSLV-II space rocket.
June 10, 2010 – South Korea launches the KSLV-I for the second time, but it exploded 137.19 seconds after liftoff.
Jan. 30, 2013 – After rounds of rescheduling, South Korea successfully launches the KSLV-I from South Korea’s Naro Space Center.
March 2014 — South Korea successfully conducts the first combustion test of the 7-ton-class liquid engine combustor for the KSLV-II.
June 8, 2016 — South Korea successfully conducts the 75-ton liquid-fueled engine, which burned for 75 seconds.
March 2018 — South Korea begins the comprehensive combustion test of the KSLV-II rocket.
Sept. 3, 2018 — South Korea announces the name of the KSLV-II rocket is Nuri, which means the world in Korean.
Nov. 28, 2018 – South Korea successfully test-launches the KSLV-Test Launch Vehicle to verify the performance of the liquid engine to be used for the KSLV-II.
Sept. 29, 2021 — South Korea confirms the date of the Nuri rocket’s first launch on Oct. 21 and begins final safety exercises.
Oct. 21, 2021 — The KSLV-II Nuri rocket lifts off from the Naro Space Center in the country’s southern coastal village of Goheung. But it ended in partial success, as the rocket failed to put a dummy satellite into orbit despite the successful flight to a target altitude of 700 kilometers. A probe found that the helium tank in the third-stage rocket fell off due to increased buoyancy during the flight and eventually caused the engine to shut off prematurely.
June 15, 2022 — South Korea postpones the second launch of Nuri, one day ahead of the scheduled liftoff, after detecting irregularities in a sensor in the oxidizer tank.
June 17, 2022 — South Korea announces a plan to launch Nuri on June 21 after fixing a technical glitch in the oxidizer tank sensor.
Source: Yonhap News Agency