Lancement Dniepr / Kompsat-5 - 22 août 2013

Dnepr launches KOMPSat-5

Published: 2013 Aug. 22

After a two-year hiatus, Russia's largest ballistic missile converted into a space booster delivered a South-Korean observation satellite into orbit.

The Dnepr launch vehicle lifted off on Aug. 22, 2013, at 18:38 Moscow Summer Time from the underground silo facility No. 13 at the Dombarovsky (Yasny) ICBM deployment site. The rocket carried KOMPSat-5 remote-sensing satellite for Korea Aerospace Research Institute, KARI.

According to South-Korean officials, the satellite successfully entered orbit around 15 minutes after its liftoff.

The KOMPSat-5 mission was delayed from 2012. At the time, the launch was surrounded by uncertainty due to the anticipated end of the Dnepr program. In the Spring, Korea's Minister of Education, Science and Technology Lee Ju-ho talked to Russian officials, however he was reportedly told that the Dnepr program would be discontinued and Koreans would have to choose among other (more expensive) launchers.