Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/08/nork_rocket_snapped_in_flight/
Nork splash shot snapped by passing satellite
Orbiting pap pic shows duff commie rocket in flight
Posted in Science, 8th April 2009 08:48 GMT
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Pic A commercial satellite, passing over the Sea of Japan at the weekend as North Korea made an unsuccessful attempt [1] to launch its first satellite into orbit, obtained this remarkable snap of the rocket stack in flight:
That's the fat lady singing, lads, not the satellite
A fullsize pic can be downloaded here [2], courtesy of commercial Earth-imaging firm DigitalGlobe.
After this picture was taken by the WorldView-1 satellite, the "Taepodong-2" rocket flew on. The first stage separated as planned, falling into the Sea of Japan. It appears, however, that the second and third stages failed to separate and they - together with the satellite payload - fell into the Pacific.
Pyongyang claimed the launch had been a success, and that the sat is now in orbit transmitting revolutionary songs. This was flatly contradicted by US aerospace defence commanders, subsequently backed up [3] by amateur sky-watchers. ®