Nuri rocket flies its fifth mission with 15 satellites on board
7 October 2026
South Korea's home-built rocket Nuri, also called KSLV-II, lifted off on its fifth flight at 12:25 p.m.
It flew from the second launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, in the country's south.
It carried 15 satellites: five microsatellites as the primary payload and ten CubeSats alongside them.
The five microsatellites belong to the NEONSAT constellation, which is to give high-resolution pictures of the Korean Peninsula.
The target was a sun-synchronous orbit about 575 kilometres above the Earth.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute said every payload reached orbit as planned except one CubeSat, PERSAT02, which failed to deploy.
Nuri is a three-stage launcher built with Korean technology, and this flight was the country's first launch of the year.
In plain words
KSLV-II Korea Space Launch Vehicle II — The official designation of the Nuri rocket, Korea's first fully home-built launcher.
CubeSat A very small satellite built in standard cube units — Cheap, light satellites often flown as extra payload on a larger mission.