Korea's Nuri is standing tall ahead of twice-delayed lift-off

Korea's homegrown rocket Nuri is again standing tall and ready on the launch pad, ahead of its lift-off slated for Tuesday.

In this overlay photo, Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II, otherwise known as Nuri, is being erected in a vertical position ahead of the launch scheduled for Tuesday, at the Naro Space Center in Goheung County, South Jeolla, on Monday. [KARI]

Korea's homegrown rocket Nuri is again standing tall and ready on the launch pad, ahead of its lift-off slated for Tuesday.

The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said Monday that the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II (KSLV-II) named Nuri was transported from the assembly center to the pad a day before the scheduled launch, and was erected in an upright position at the Naro Space Center in Goheung County, South Jeolla.

“We are currently working on the final stage of pre-launch preparations for the day before lift-off, connecting the umbilical tower to the rocket,” said Oh Seung-hyup, a KARI researcher during an online press briefing Monday.

The pre-launch preparation is set to be completed by 7 p.m., and a launch management committee meeting will be held in the evening to consolidate the schedule for Tuesday.

The launch will take place at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

“The pre-launch preparation on the umbilical connectors and helium injection for the valve operation will begin at 10 a.m. tomorrow,” said Oh. “The flight control in surrounding areas and the fueling process will start between 11:00 and 11:30 a.m.”

The launch, originally slated for last Wednesday, has been rescheduled twice so far: first to last Thursday due to weather conditions, and then to Tuesday due to technical glitches.

The weather was one of the biggest concerns, but KARI said that it expects weather conditions to be comparatively favorable tomorrow.

The Gwangju branch of the Korea Meteorological Administration forecasts that there is a 30 to 20 percent chance of rain on Tuesday in the region, with humidity at 80 to 85 percent. Humidity will need to stay below 98 percent for the launch to be possible.

This will be Korea's second attempt to shoot a satellite into space. Unlike the first trial on Oct. 21 last year, which had been carried out with only a dummy payload and ended in partial success, the KSLV-II will be carrying actual satellites.

Whether or not the satellites are successfully launched into the targeted orbit will be determined 16 minutes after lift-off, according to Oh.

If the mission is successful, Korea will be the seventh to launch satellites of more than 1 ton into space with its own carrier rocket, following Russia, the United States, the European Union, China, Japan and India.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]