South Korea has successfully launched its first liquid-fuel rocket.

The KSR-III rocket lifted off at a launch pad on the central west coast Thursday afternoon, a day after it was planned to be launched. Bad weather at the launch site forced the delay.

The 64-million dollar project is considered a step toward developing Korea's own satellite launch vehicle.

The 14-meter-long rocket was powered by liquefied oxygen and kerosene. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute said the rocket flew up to 42 kilometers from the ground with a maximum speed of more than nine hundred meters a second. It flew 85 kilometers for two-hundred-30 seconds before falling into the West Sea.