South Korea’s first satellite launch pad and the world’s 13th space centre. Located on Naro island, about 485 kilometres south of Seoul, the centre is managed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and supports a launch pad, control building, landing field, electric power station, space science museum, and state-of-the-art facilities for rocket and satellite assembly and testing. Construction of the centre began in 2003 and, after two failed launch attempts (2009 and 2010), the centre finally succeeded, on 30 January 2013, in placing the nation’s first satellite into low Earth orbit aboard a Naro rocket.