North Korea Space Program

North Korea space program
Headquarters
General Information
Owner	North Korea
Type	National space program
Industry	Space technology Space exploration Aeronautics research
Head­quarters	Yangdŏk (?)
Member of	Mars-7 Alliance (1997)
Formed	Mid 1980s
DPRK Patch

The North Korea space program is the national space program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

History

North Korea's space program started sometime in the mid to late 80s, during the global Space Boom.

North Korea had an active intercontinental ballistic missile program in the 80s, but the country abandoned the program in 1988 in exchange to international sanctions relief. Despite international pressure, the DPRK continued missile tests in the 90s, saying the test flights were for scientific purposes.

Although, the program struggled to keep pace with other nations and had to get through many problems and failures. Several North Korean rockets have exploded at launch or in Earth's orbit over the years. The increasing amount of missile launches by the country were stoking fears that the North Korean regime is developing long range weapon capabilities under the cover of its space program. US president Gary Hart called to pressure North Korea to allow international observers to visit its space programs headquarters.

In 1992, debris from a failed North Korean missile launch struck the Polaris Orbital Hotel and caused it to spin out of control, resulting in a disaster.

In fall 1994, North Korea launched what was believed to be an unmanned probe to Mars, two weeks before the launch of the US mission and the other competitors. However, the North Koreans secretly sent two ujunauts on a one way trip to the red planet in the capsule 483PRK1. On 8 February 1995, the capsule crash-landed on the Martian surface, though only one of the ujunauts aboard, Lee Jung-Gil, survived it, making him the first man on Mars, unknowingly to anyone at that time. Due to the damaged communications array and therefore not being able to make contact back home, the mission was not disclosed to the public, making it seemingly a failure. After seven months alone, Lee was rescued by Danielle Poole and Grigory Kuznetsov, who were also unaware of his presence until they spotted his footprints. After initially holding them at gunpoint, he was subdued and taken back to Happy Valley. He along with the other crew members of the base would eventually return to Earth two years later, Lee becoming a national hero.

In 1997, North Korea joined the newly founded Mars-7 Alliance treaty (M-7). This allows them to have their own restricted sector of Happy Valley.

In 2003, Cho Byung Ho is the North Korean Commander at Happy Valley. Lee returned to Mars, although under the constant watch of other members of the program.

Known personnel

• Lee Jung-Gil
• Park Chol †
• Cho Byung Ho
• Gwan Jin Tao
• Lim Sum Gi
• Park Chui Moo

Gallery

North Korean space program in the News

Debris of a failed North Korean rocket in Earth's orbit

Lee Jung-Gil, the first man on Mars, stands atop the Korean mars base, trying to repair the damaged communications array

Parade held for Lee Jung-Gil upon his return from Mars

Mars-7 alliance leaders

Cho Byuong Ho, Commander of North Korean sector of Happy Valley

Patches

Behind the scenes

The rocket and the launch site seen in episodes 3x01, 3x04 and in the bonus video is the North Korean Unha-3 carrier rocket at its launch pad at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Tongch'ang-ri in 2012.

See also

• Roscosmos
• NASA
• ESA
• Mars-7 Alliance
• North Korea

External links

•   Korean Committee of Space Technology on Wikipedia
•   National Aerospace Development Administration on Wikipedia