FOOTAGE OF ‘NURI’ IN ACTION UNVEILED

[Anchor Lead]

The videos of locally developed Korea Space Launch Vehicle Nuri in flight has been released for the first time. The footage was captured by five cameras mounted on the rocket’s body. The videos showed that ignition, takeoff, fairing separation and dummy satellite launch were all carried out without a hitch.

[Pkg]

Four 75-ton engines on the first stage booster ignite to thrust the homegrown launch vehicle Nuri into space. Two minutes and seven seconds since takeoff. The first stage is separated normally before the second stage rocket is ignited. At 3 minutes and 53 seconds, the fairing that covered the dummy satellite separated perfectly and at 4 minutes and 34 seconds the third stage rocket ignited after the second stage rocket fell away. 15 minutes and 21 seconds after launch. The rocket reached 700 kilometers in altitude and released the mock satellite. Regrettably, the dummy payload failed to be placed at the designated orbit. Videos of the launch vehicle Nuri in flight have been released to the public for the first time. The footage was recorded by five cameras mounted on the vehicle fuselage. The videos showed the first, second and third stages separated and ignited successfully and the dummy satellite was released as planned. The camera captured how the third stage rocket combustion ended earlier than planned to lose speed and failed to place the dummy satellite on the planned orbit. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute is using these videos and data to study why the third stage engine petered out earlier than planned.

[Soundbite] Jang Young-soon(Chief, Launcher System Development Division, KARI) : "It will probably take two weeks to analyze the basic data and then another month to obtain more detailed findings from the basic data."

KARI plans to identify the combustion issue of the third stage engine quickly and accurately so the second launch of the Nuri scheduled for next May will be a complete success.