Posted: Fri, Mar 27, 2015, 2:50 PM ET (1850 GMT)
A Dnepr rocket successfully launched a South Korean remote sensing satellite on Thursday. The Dnepr lifted off from the Yasny Launch Base in Russia at 6:08 pm EDT Wednesday (2208 GMT Wednesday, 3:08 am local time Thursday) carrying the Kompsat-3A satellite. The rocket placed Kompsat-3A into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 500 kilometers. Kompsat-3A, developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, weighted 1,100 kilograms at launch, and is designed to provide visible and infrared imagery. The future of the Dnepr was in doubt earlier this year because of tensions between Russia and Ukraine, but Dnepr's operator, Kosmotras, said this month it planned two more launches this year and several more in 2016 and 2017.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Yonhap News article
•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  SEN article
•  Kosmotras press release