South Korean Satellite Did Not Enter Orbit
South Korean officials have revealed that the satellite launched yesterday on the country’s first space launch did not enter orbit. Yonhap News Service quoted Kim Jung-hyun, Vice Science and Technology Minister, as saying that one of two fairings covering the STSAT-2 satellite did not detach properly. The second stage of the KSLV-1 launch vehicle could not generate sufficient thrust to put the satellite and the additional weight of the fairing into orbit. Stablization and navigational control also were affected. The satellite ultimately reached an altitude of 387 kilometers, but then “probably fell back to Earth and was destroyed as it re-entered the atmosphere,” according to Mr. Kim. Russia’s Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center built the first stage of the KSLV-1 rocket, but South Korea built the second stage and the fairings.
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