South Korea's Naro-1 space rocket blasted off from a space center on the country's southern coast on Thursday, carrying a scientific satellite into orbit, Yonhap reported.
The rocket lifted off at 5:01 p.m. from the Naro Space Center, about 485 kilometers south of Seoul.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute in charge of the launch said the scientific satellite is expected to separate from the rocket at an altitude of 302km and deploy its solar panels about 540 seconds after blastoff.
Mission controllers said the first contact with the satellite is expected to take place 11-13 hours after liftoff.