...Khrunichev Space Center said on Tuesday. The Khrunichev Center built the first stage for the rocket under a 2004 agreement. The solid-fuel second stage and payload were designed and built in South Korea.

South Korea’s KSLV-1 carrier rocket.
Photo © AFP/ STR / KOREA POOL

The 140-ton rocket will lift off from South Korea's Naro Space Centre. It will orbit a small satellite to collect data on space radiation. The project has been dogged by failures, notably in 2009 when the rocket failed to deliver a 100-kilogram oceanic and atmospheric research satellite into orbit. In 2010, the carrier exploded two minutes after take-off.