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MOSCOW, August 21 (RIA Novosti) - South...
member of the so-called "space club," whose members have developed their own rockets and satellites and sent them into space from a launch facility on their own soil.A second, more powerful rocket named KSLV-2 could be created and launched by 2018 without foreign assistance. It is expected to be a 50-meter (164-foot) three-stage rocket, capable of carrying up to one metric ton of payload.
The construction of South Korea"s first space center on the island of Naro, about 500 km (311 miles) south of Seoul, was completed in June.
The facility covers an area of over 5 square km (1.9 square miles). The cost of construction totaled $248.6 million, according to the country"s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
South Korea started its space program in 1996 and has so far orbited 11 satellites with the help of foreign carrier rockets launched from territories of other countries.
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