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Iran postpones Ahmadinejad's ride into space
IRAN'S plans to send a live monkey into space have been postponed indefinitely, the country's top space official said, quoted today by the state television website."One cannot give a set date for this project and as soon as our nation's scientists announce the readiness (of the project) it will be announced," said Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Organisation said. Fazeli had said in mid-June that a Kavoshgar-5 rocket would be launched "during the month of Mordad (July 23 to August 23) with a 285-kilogram capsule carrying a monkey to an altitude of 120 kilometres." He gave no reason for the postponement. "Our scientists are exerting continuous efforts on this project... our colleagues are busy with empirical studies and sub-system testing of this project so it is a success," he said. In mid-March, Iran's space organisation announced the launch of the Kavoshgar-4 rocket carrying a test capsule designed to house the monkey. Posted by: tipper 2011-10-03 |
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