S. Korea launches homegrown space rocket

SEOUL - South Korea launched its homegrown space rocket for the second time on Tuesday.

The Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV)-II, also dubbed Nuri, blasted off from the Naro Space Center in the southern coastal village of Goheung at 4:00 pm local time, live footage from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) showed.

The first Nuri test-launch was conducted in October last year when the rocket successfully reached a target altitude of 700 km but failed to put a 1.5-ton dummy satellite into orbit as its third-stage booster engine burned out earlier than planned.

The second launch was originally scheduled for last Thursday but it was postponed due to a technical glitch in the oxidizer tank sensor.