South Korea Reaches Space Milestone With Domestic Rocket Launch Into Space

The Nuri rocket, South Korea's first domestically produced space rocket, sits on its launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Korea, on Oct. 20, 2021. Korea Aerospace Research Institute/Yonhap via AP

Marking a leap for its space program, South Korea launched a domestically made rocket into space on Thursday, but it failed short of delivering a dummy payload into orbit.

After decades of U.S. restrictions on missile development, South Korea built the three-stage Nuri space launch vehicle entirely using indigenous technology. The Nuri, developed by Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), was designed to deliver a payload of 1.5 tons (3,300 pounds) into an orbit of 372 to 497 miles (600 to 800 kilometers) above Earth.