Taepodong-1

Taepodong-1 is a three-stage technology demonstrater of an intermediate-range ballistic missile developed by North Korea. The missile was derived originally from the Scud rocket, and was tested once as a space launch vehicle.

History
On August 31, 1998, it was announced by the North Koreans that they had used this rocket to launch their first satellite Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1 from a pad on the Musudan-ri peninsula. However, the satellite failed to achieve orbit; outside observers conjecture that the additional third stage either failed to fire or malfunctioned. This is contrary to official statements of the North Korean state media, which stated that the satellite achieved orbit about 5 minutes after launch. On this single launch, the main two-stage booster flew for 1,646 km without any significant problems.

According to post-launch analysis of the launch vehicle, debris from the third stage fell as far as 4,000 kilometers from the launch pad. Some analysts believe that a three-stage space booster variant of the Taepodong-1 could be capable of travelling as far as 5,900 kilometers with a very small payload.

In 2003 the US Defense Intelligence Agency reported to the Congress that, "We have no information to suggest Pyongyang intends to deploy the Taepo Dong 1 (TD-1) as a surface-to-surface missile in North Korea. We believe instead that the vehicle was a test bed for multi-stage missile technologies." In 2009 the US National Air and Space Intelligence Center assessed that the Taepodong-1 was a technology demonstrater, a development step toward longer-range missile development.

Description

 * Liftoff thrust: 525.25 kN
 * Total mass: 33 406 kg
 * Diameter: 1.80 m
 * Length: 25.80 m
 * Range with 1,500 kg of payload: 2,000 km
 * Range with 1,000 kg of payload: 2,500 km
 * Range with 50 kg of payload and third stage: 6,000 km

The rocket's first stage is a Rodong-1 MRBM, and the second stage is a Hwasong-6 short-range ballistic missile.