Main booster for S. Korea`s first space rocket arrives from Russia

BUSAN, June 19 (Yonhap) -- The main booster for South Korea's first
satellite-equipped space rocket has arrived from Russia, the government said
Friday.
Authorities at Gimhae International Airport and the education and science
ministry said the rocket, manufactured by Russia's Khrunichev State Research and
Production Space Center, arrived via a special cargo plane.
The Antonov-124 landed safety at the airport in the outskirts of Busan and had
been moved to a cargo handling facility, they said.
The booster for the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) is made up of the main
booster engine, the fuel tanks and holding tanks for the oxidizing agent.
It is 25.8 meters tall, 2.9 meters across and weighs 130 tons.
Once connected to the second stage rocket, made in South Korea, the rocket will
stand 33 meters tall, weigh 140 tons and generate thrust of 170 tons that will
push the rocket and its 100 kilogram payload to an altitude of 170 kilometers.
Government sources and state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute, which is in
charge of the launch, said the rocket will be moved to a nearby port and sent to
the Naro Space Center by a specially modified ship.
Naro is located 485 km south of Seoul and was formally opened last week.
If the launched planned for July 30 is successful, the rocket will make South
Korea the 13th country in the world to send a satellite into space from its own
territory.
After second KSLV-1 rocket is launched in April 2010, Seoul plans to develop a
fully indigenous rocket by 2018.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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