GOHEUNG, South Korea — South Korea failed to deliver a satellite into orbit on Thursday, crushing its dream to become the 10th country in the world to reach the milestone using its own technology.

President Moon Jae-in said that the three-stage Nuri rocket could not reach orbit, although it flew as high as 700 km into space after all its three stages separated successfully.

“I am sorry that we could not reach the goal completely, but it’s still a very excellent accomplishment,” Moon said after the launch at the Naro Space Center on South Korea’s southernmost island of Oenarodo. “We have an uncompleted mission to deliver a dummy satellite into orbit safely.”