Ten years ago this week, a tall white rocket bearing the North Korean flag roared to life on a launch pad on the northwestern coast, soaring upward in the DPRK’s first successful attempt to place a satellite into orbit.

The fact that a malfunction appeared to cause the Kwangmyongsong-3-2 to tumble in its orbit made little difference to Pyongyang’s propagandists, who have elevated the launch into a triumphant achievement of Kim Jong Un’s leadership, “an event that put the space science and technology of the country on a world level.”