Islamic Iran to launch the 1st living creature into space

Head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) says the country will launch the first bio-capsule carrying a living creature into space in the new Iranian calendar year, starting on March 20.

Hamid Fazeli told reporters that the national project will be carried out by sending a monkey into space using a new bio-capsule.

“The results of this space journey will get our country one step closer to putting humans into space,” he added.

Fazeli added that launching the new bio-capsule in the next two months will be Iran’s first step towards dispatching human beings into space, which will be first sent to an altitude of 250-300 kilometers above the Earth.

Iran launched its first domestically-developed satellite, Omid (Hope), in 2009, an effort that made the Islamic Republic the ninth nation with the capability to launch satellites.

Iran is one of the 24 founding members of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of the Outer Space, which was established in 1959.