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SEOUL — South Korea launched its first lunar orbiter on Friday as it doubles down on its space programs, aiming to land a spacecraft on the moon by 2030. The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, nicknamed Danuri, meaning “enjoy the moon,” launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from the US Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida at 8:08 a.m. on Friday (2308 GMT Thursday), South Korea’s science ministry said. . The 678-kilogram (1,495-pound) Danuri separated from the missile about 40 minutes after launch and began communicating with a ground station around 9:40 a.m.
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“Analysis of the information received confirmed … Danuri was operating normally,” Undersecretary for Science Oh Tae-seog said in a briefing, announcing that the orbiter was on a lunar trajectory. It will enter lunar orbit in December before embarking on a yearlong observation mission, including searching for a landing site and testing space internet technology, the ministry said. If successful, South Korea will become the seventh lunar explorer in the world and the fourth in Asia, behind China, Japan and India. The launch was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was delayed due to a maintenance issue with the SpaceX rocket. South Korea has accelerated its space program, aiming to send a probe to the moon by 2030. It has also joined the Artemis project which aims to return to the moon by 2024.
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In July, South Korea conducted a second test launch of its domestically produced Nuri missile and reported the first successful launch of a solid-fuel space launch vehicle in March as part of efforts to launch spy satellites. Space launches have long been a sensitive issue on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea faces international sanctions over its nuclear ballistic missile program. In March, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un asked to expand its launch site to advance its space ambitions after South Korea and the United States accused it of testing a new intercontinental ballistic missile under the guise of a spacecraft launch . South Korea says its space program is for peaceful and scientific purposes and any military use of the technology, such as in spy satellites, is for its defense. (Reporting by Hyonhee Shin and Soo-hyang Choi; Editing by Robert Birsel and Edmund Klamann)
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