SEOUL-- President Moon Jae-in said Thursday South Korea's first domestically-built space rocket completed all flight sequence as scheduled but failed to put a dummy satellite into orbit.

Moon praised scientists and engineers for developing the space rocket that flew to a target altitude of 700 kilometers, describing it as a "creditable achievement."

"The test-launch of Nuri-ho was completed. I am proud of it," Moon told the public after witnessing the launch at the Naro Space Center, the nation's sole spaceport. "Regrettably, we did not perfectly reach the goal, but we made a very creditable achievement in the first launch."

After 12 years of development, engineers launched the 200-ton three-stage launch vehicle, KSLV-II -- also known as Nuri -- that carried the 1.5-ton mock payload at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, 473 kilometers south of Seoul.

Source: Yonhap News Agency