In this handout image provided by the Korea Aerospace Reseacher Institute, KSLV-1 (Naro) rocket lifts off from the launch pad at Goheung Space Center on January 30, 2013 in Goheung-gun, South Korea. The rocket was scheduled to launch in November 2012. (Korea Aerospace Reseacher Institute via Getty Images)

As Iran gets busy sending apes into space, and North Korea postures as it continues to test rockets and advance its nuclear program, South Korea had a launch of its own.  Check in after the break for a close up and some details on the rocket…

From NYT:

Although part of the two-stage rocket was built by the Russians, South Korea sees the successful launching as having given it an important toehold in space technology, the latest high-tech market where the country has decided to become a player. By 2021, it says, it will launch a completely indigenous three-stage, liquid-fueled rocket capable of carrying a one-and-a-half-ton payload into orbit.

KSLV-1 was the first space rocket to take off from South Korea. The country bought its liquid-fueled first booster stage from the Russian company Khrunichev in a deal that included a transfer of technology to South Korean engineers. South Korea built the rocket’s solid-fueled second stage, which carried a small, 220-pound Naro science and technology satellite built by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.