[Anchor]

South Korea's space launch vehicle Nuri is set for its fifth launch this afternoon (7th). It will carry a record-breaking 15 satellites.

Our first report comes from reporter Seo Donggyun.

[Reporter]

Today's fifth launch of Nuri is tentatively scheduled for 12:30 PM.

The exact launch time will be finalized shortly at the Nuri Launch Management Committee meeting.

Yesterday morning at 6:00 AM, the 16-story-tall Nuri rolled out of the assembly building and headed toward the launch pad.

It was transported slowly on an unmanned special transporter to avoid damaging its approximately 370,000 parts.

At 7:30 AM, an hour and a half after leaving the assembly building, it arrived at Launch Pad Complex 2 and began the erection process.

By 10:35 AM, Nuri's erection was complete, and the umbilicals—often called the lifeline of the rocket—were connected to supply power and propellants.

Having completed preparations for its fifth launch, Nuri is heading into space carrying a total of 15 satellites, including five micro-cluster satellites.

This payload is the largest and heaviest in the history of Nuri since its first launch in 2021.

The payload weighs 1,071 kilograms, an increase of more than 100 kilograms from the 960 kilograms of the fourth launch.

The target altitude is 570 kilometers.

The core objective of this launch is to deploy the five cluster satellites sequentially at 35- to 40-second intervals to prevent them from colliding with one another.

Once the micro-cluster satellites enter their target orbit, they will frequently observe the Korean Peninsula and surrounding areas with high resolution.

Following its first launch, which failed to insert its payload into orbit, Nuri has successfully completed all its missions from the second through the fourth launches.

Attention is now focused on whether this fifth launch, carrying the most satellites and serving as its heaviest flight to date, will also conclude successfully.

[Video Editing: Lee Soyoung]