Iran has successfully launched a live monkey into space, declaring an advance in a missile and space program that has alarmed the West and the Zionist entity.
Iran has successfully launched a live monkey into space, declaring an advance in a missile and space program that has alarmed the West and the Zionist entity.
The state news agency IRNA said on Monday that the Islamic Republic has launched Pioneer Explorer Satellite and placed it into space, taking a giant stride in the field of space bio-research concurrent with the auspicious birth anniversary of Holy Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
Citing the Public Relations Department at Iran Aerospace Organization, IRNA reported that the explorer was put in the orbit as per schedule and altitude.
IRNA said the monkey was sent into space on a Kavoshgar rocket. The rocket reached a height of more than 120 km (75 miles) and "returned its shipment intact.”
The Islamic Republic's state-run, English-language Press TV said the monkey was retrieved alive.
Iran launched its first indigenous satellite, Omid (Hope), in 2009. The country also sent its first bio-capsule containing living creatures into the space in February 2010, using the indigenous Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier.
In June 2011, Iran put the 15.3-kilogram Rasad (Observation) orbiter in space. Rasad’s mission was to take images of the Earth and transmit them along with telemetry information to the ground stations.
Iran launched Navid-e Elm-o Sanat (Harbinger of Science and Industry), another indigenous satellite, into the orbit on February 3, 2012.
The satellite was a telecom, measurement and scientific one, whose records were reportedly used in a wide range of fields.
Western powers are concerned that the long-range ballistic technology used to propel Iranian satellites into orbit could be used to launch nuclear warheads. Tehran denies such suggestions and says its nuclear activity is for peaceful energy only.
Iran is one of the 24 founding members of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which was set up in 1959.
