A panel of experts will start reviewing launch plans for the country’s first space rocket this week, which could help set a specific blastoff date, the government said Thursday.

A review committee will hold its first meeting Friday after the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology filed its request for a launch late last month.

The ministry said earlier that the launch, which will be the third of its kind, will likely take place before October. The first two launches of South Korea’s first locally assembled space rocket took place in August 2009 and June 2010. Both, however, failed to place their scientific satellite payload into the Earth’s orbit due to problems in the rocket’s electrical systems.

The so-called Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1 (KSLV-1) has been developed jointly with Russia, which is building the first-stage of the rocket. South Korea is in charge of building the smaller and simpler second-stage of the rocket as well as the scientific satellite. 



(Yonhap News)