Seoul, June 10 (IANS) South Korea's homemade rocket, which lost contact only 137 seconds after the takeoff Thursday, crashed, a media report said.
The two-stage satellite-carrier Naro-1, or the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, lifted off from the Naro Space Centre in South Jeolla Province, about 485 km south of Seoul, Xinhua quoted Seoul's news channel YTN as saying.
The launch of the 140-tonne rocket, developed with the help of Russian experts, was delayed Wednesday due to a technical problem. South Korea has put $404.5 million into developing the Naro-1.
Last year, a technical glitch botched up the first attempt at the rocket launch.