Yoon Says South Korea Enters 'G7 Space Powers' Following Successful Nuri Rocket Launch

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Thursday that the successful launch of the Nuri space rocket was a "splendid" achievement and marked the country's admission to the list of space powers that managed to put a homemade satellite into orbit on a homegrown rocket

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2023) South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Thursday that the successful launch of the Nuri space rocket was a "splendid" achievement and marked the country's admission to the list of space powers that managed to put a homemade satellite into orbit on a homegrown rocket.

Earlier in the day, South Korea successfully launched its Nuri space rocket, which put eight satellites into orbit.

"The success of Nuri's third launch is a splendid feat declaring that South Korea has entered into the G-7 space powers," Yoon was quoted as saying by South Korean news agency Yonhap, adding that the only other countries to do so were the United States, France, Japan, Russia, China and India.

South Korean Science Minister Lee Jong-ho said that the country would carry out three more launches of the Nuri rocket by 2027.

On June 21, 2022, Nuri was successfully launched from a spaceport in the south of the country, reaching the target altitude and placing a satellite into orbit, making South Korea the seventh country in the world to launch satellites weighing more than 1 tonne using indigenous launch vehicles, following a failed attempt in 2021.