The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced Thursday it has set Jan. 30 as the launch date of the country’s space rocket Naro-1.

The ministry and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute held a meeting Thursday on how to monitor the weather conditions and possibility of collision with space debris on the day of the launch.

The ministry said the exact time of the launch will be announced at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday after taking into consideration the weather and space conditions on the day.

Naro-1, or the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, is making its third attempt to reach orbit from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province.

The two previous attempts to launch the rocket, in August 2009 and June 2010, ended in failure. The current attempt has already been postponed twice for technical reasons after launch dates were set in October and November last year.

(596story@heraldcorp.com)