On June 21 at 07:00, the Korean Aerospace Research Institute successfully launched the second KSLV-II into orbit from the Naro Space Center off the coast of South Korea. It reached orbit about fifteen minutes later, putting two payloads into a 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit.

The launch comes only a couple of months after the first launch of the KSLV-II failed to reach orbit due to a problem with the third stage of the rocket. The KSLV-II is designed to put up to 2.6 tons into orbit, and this second launch carried two payloads – a small functional “performance verification satellite” which will deploy four CubeSats before doing their own mission and a 1.3 metric ton mass simulator.

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S. Korea successfully launches homegrown space rocket in second attempt (Yonhap News Agency)