Graduates of Gyeonggibuk Science High School who developed GBSAT, a miniature satellite carried aboard the fifth launch of Korea's Nuri rocket. Clockwise from top left are Lee Sang-hoon, a student at DGIST; Lee Tae-gyun, a GIST graduate; Lee Je-min, a KAIST student; Bang Woo-chan, a Seoul National University student; Jung Beom-jun, a DGIST student; and Yang Jun-young, a Korea Aerospace University student. Kim Hyun-min, a DGIST student, was unable to join the photo shoot due to a scheduling conflict. At bottom left is Yoon Hyo-sang, a KAIST professor who mentored the team.KOREA AEROSPACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Five years after watching Korea's first Nuri rocket launch on a classroom TV, seven friends from a Gyeonggi science high school saw a satellite they built themselves reach orbit aboard a Nuri rocket on Oct. 7.
"Just an hour after the launch, we picked up a signal from the satellite we had developed, all the way from space,โ Lee Tae-gyun, a 23-year-old graduate at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, told the JoongAng Ilbo on Oct. 8. โIt didn't feel real. We were stunned."
Lee helped develop GBSAT, one of 15 satellites Korea's homegrown Nuri rocket carried into orbit.
For Yang Jun-young, another team member now at Korea Aerospace University, the main feeling was relief.
"When I heard that the satellite had successfully entered a stable orbit, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief, like we could finally breathe again," Yang said.
GBSAT measures 10 by 10 by 30 centimeters (3.9 by 3.9 by 11.8 inches). It is designed to measure protons traveling along Earth's magnetic field lines from low Earth orbit, about 560 kilometers (348 miles) up.
The letters "GB" stand for "Geomagnetic-field Bound" and double as a nod to Gyeonggibuk Science High School in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, where all seven studied.
As second- and third-year high school students in 2021, the so-called Nuri kids gathered in a classroom to watch the first launch of the Nuri rocket together.
We all wanted to go to the Naro Space Center to see the launch in person, but we were told we needed an adult supervisor to accompany us, so we watched the live broadcast from our classroom instead," Yang said, referring to the launch site in Goheung County, Jeonnam-Gwangju.
A Nuri rocket takes off from the launch pad at the Naro Space Center in Goheung, Jeonnam-Gwangju, on Oct. 6.Korea Aerospace Research Institute
Their dreams of reaching space continued well beyond graduation.
In 2022, the team entered a CubeSat competition organized by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, or KARI, which led them to begin developing a satellite under the guidance of Yoon Hyo-sang, a professor at KAIST.
Even after scattering to different universities, the seven spent their weekends building the satellite. They even postponed their mandatory military service until after the launch.
To secure a workspace, they emailed a university president directly and obtained permission to use a facility.
Because none of them had a car, they often carried the satellite on subways and buses in a special shock-resistant case.
"We're a group of friends who decided to pursue what we really wanted to do rather than go to medical school," Yang said, adding that all of them settled on physics, robotics or aerospace without much hesitation.
Yoon Jong-su, right, principal of Gyeonggibuk Science High School in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, and Yoo Byung-yoon, a teacher who supervises the school's astronomy club Pulcherrima, introduce a telescope at the school on Oct. 6.KIM MIN-SANG
Three of the seven were also members of Pulcherrima, an astronomy club at Gyeonggibuk Science High School.
Founded in 2005, the school sits on the slopes of Mount Hongbok, which rises 460 meters (1,509 feet) above sea level, giving it favorable conditions for astronomical observation. A telescope worth about 30 million won ($22,000) sits on the school's rooftop.
Current Pulcherrima members watched Oct. 7's launch on a livestream, just as their predecessors had in 2021.
"I hope more funding will be allocated to science education so that students can explore a wider range of career paths in science and engineering," said Yoon Jong-su, principal of Gyeonggibuk Science High School.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
