South Korea’s Nuri rocket completed its fifth launch on Wednesday, placing all five primary Earth-observation satellites into their target orbit after lifting off from the Naro Space Center at 12:25 p.m. The rocket also deployed nine of 10 smaller secondary satellites, while one remained attached after its deployment mechanism failed to open.

The flight marked Nuri’s fourth consecutive successful launch and its first mission to place five primary satellitesinto orbit during a single flight. The mission also tested procedures for deploying several satellites without collisions, adding to the reliability and operating experience Seoul wants before shifting more responsibility for