Test with the "Pathfinder": South Korea's first lunar probe has arrived in orbit

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Falcon 9 rocket with the lunar probe on board: It should identify possible landing sites

Photo: Joe Marino/UPI Photo/IMAGO

South Korea's first lunar probe has reached its target orbit - four months after its launch into space.

The test space probe "Korea Pathfinder" is on the targeted orbit of the moon earlier than planned, said the Ministry of Science on Wednesday.

You started to orbit the moon on Tuesday.

From there it will collect data from the surface of the moon for research purposes.

The orbiter, also known as "Danuri", had previously completed three instead of the planned five so-called pivoting maneuvers.

The speed of the spacecraft is reduced in order to be safely caught by the gravity of the moon and to enter orbit.

A Falcon 9 rocket from Elon Musk's private space company SpaceX was launched in August with the probe on board from the Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome in the US state of Florida.

One of the orbiter's tasks is to explore possible landing sites on the moon.

South Korea is a signatory to NASA's Artemis space cooperation program.

The plan is to send people to destinations like the moon and Mars with a fully reusable takeoff and landing system.

ani/dpa