Korean lunar orbiter Danuri successfully enters target orbit

SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle takes off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, on Aug. 4. [KARI]

Korea’s first lunar orbiter Danuri successfully entered the target orbit around the moon.

This comes two days earlier than scheduled, as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter — the spacecraft's formal name — was able to achieve the target orbit 100 kilometers (62 miles) above the moon’s surface through only three lunar orbit insertion (LOI) maneuvers, instead of the initially scheduled five LOI maneuvers.

During the LOI process, a spacecraft lowers its speed to enter the moon's orbit.

Danuri successfully carried out its third and last LOI maneuver at 11:06 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

With the Danuri successfully reaching mission orbit, KARI became the seventh space agency to put a satellite into orbit around the moon, following those of Russia, the United States, Japan, the European Union, China and India.

"It is a historical moment in which Korea showed the world our capabilities in space technology and took a leap forward in space power," said President Yoon Suk-yeol on his social media page.

The domestically-developed lunar orbiter was launched on Aug. 5, carried by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The lunar mission will begin in February 2023, after a month of tests through January, and will last until December. The mission is to collect data related to lunar resources and search for a lunar landing location.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]