Epress.am News from Armenia
Iran will launch its first astronaut into space in 2017, said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a press conference Thursday, reports Azerbaijan’s News.Az, citing the Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, according to Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
Speaking in the western city of Hamedan, Ahmadinejad said that Iran would send its first astronaut into space in 2017.
He told local media that Iran’s presence in space would indicate the country’s dominance in the field of space science.
He said then that the decision had been taken in response to the UN Security Council’s latest sanctions on Iran over its uranium enrichment activity.
Last February, Iran launched its first home-built satellite, named Omid (Hope), into orbit to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution. Earlier this year, Tehran sent the first bio-capsule of living creatures into space, using its home-made Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier, reports RTT News.