Republic of Korea 2005

World Space Week 2005 Report

In 2005, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in Korea has announced <Space Korea> 3-year space promotion program which mainly includes launching satellite mounted on KSRV-1 rocket at NARO Space Center (world's 13th launching site) until 2007.

On 26 Sep, Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and Young Astronauts Korea (YAK) started with National Model Rocket Contest and 600 students around the country have come together to build and launch their own rocket.

On 4th Oct, there was official ceremony hosted by Dr. Myung Oh, Minister of MOST and <Space Week Festival> exhibition at COEX.

During the world space week, there were many other space-related events all around the country, organized by KARI, YAK and Korea Science Foundation.

On 5th Oct, <Name-on-a-chip to space> ceremony was hosted at KARI, and the chip including names of 120,000 people was mounted on <ARIRANG-2> satellite. Over 1,000 elementary schools joined at <Space Science Contest> and <Family Star Party> hosted by YAK. There was also year-round <Space Festival> exhibition at War Memorial Museum and they also hosted events commemorating WSW 2005.

More than 30,000 people participated in this biggest space event and it was covered by all major TV and newspapers.

Overall, it was a successful start and we will work more to inspire space science to young students. Also, Korea will keep joining at WSW to play an important role in the coming space development program. For more information on World Space Week and Space Development Program in Korea, please visit www.yak.or.kr, www.kari.re.kr.