IMAGES SENT IN BY DANURI

[Anchor Lead]

Korea's first lunar orbiter Danuri, which was launched into space last month, has sent the images of the Earth and the Moon. They are Korea's first photos of the Earth and the Moon to be taken outside of the gravitational field.

[Pkg]

Planet Earth shrouded in clouds. Next to our planet is the Moon, it's eternal partner. These are the first images of the Earth and the Moon to be taken by the lunar orbiter Danuri on August 26th. They were taken about 1.24 million kilometers from the Earth, and are the first images of our planet and the Moon to be taken by a Korean lunar orbiter outside of the Earth's gravitational field.

[Soundbite] Cho Young-ho(S. Korea Aerospace Research Institute) : "One of Danuri's devices is Lunar Terrain Imager(LUTI). It's the first photos of the Earth and the Moon to be taken simultaneously from a long distance. It was a test of the camera's performance."

Carried into space by Space X's Falcon 9 on August 5th, Danuri has chosen a six-million-kilometer route to minimize the use of fuel. Danuri is currently moving towards the Sun about 1.3 million kilometers from the Earth. On Friday afternoon, the lunar orbiter will steer toward the Moon using its own propellant. In about three months, Danuri will enter the lunar orbit, and on December 31st, it will reach its mission orbit 100 kilometers above the Moon. Danuri will carry out its missions over a year using its loaded six devices. It will videotape the lunar surface with utter precision using NASA's ShadowCam. The images will be used in finding a landing point for the Artemis program, which is designed to return astronauts to the lunar surface.

[Soundbite] Kara Pohlkamp(NASA's Johnson Space Center)

Danuri's first images of the Earth and the Moon are further raising expectations of lunar exploration.