Making the remarks in a ceremony held on the occasion of World Space Week (October 4-10), he said “the US imposed sanctions on three major Iranian aerospace entities overnight but Iranian scientist will not remain behind the doors of sanctions.”
In March 2014, Iran announced that it has sent the second monkey into the space on the back of an explorer rocket, and that it has brought back and recovered the living cargo.
The second monkey which was sent into the space on the back of an Iran-made explorer returned to the Earth safely. The Iranian explorer was launched into the space using liquid fuel for the first time.
In January 2014, the time Defense Ministry's Aerospace Industries Organization announced that it has sent a monkey into the space on the back of Pishgam (Pioneer) explorer rocket and recovered it.
The Aerospace Industries Organization said it had sent the living creature into space aboard an indigenous biocapsule as a prelude to sending humans into space.
The Aerospace Industries Organization said the capsule was sent to an orbit beyond 120km in altitude and carried out telemetry of the environmental data records.
The explorer rocket was launched by the Aerospace Industries Organization and it returned to the Earth after reaching the desired speed and altitude, and the living creature (monkey) was retrieved and found alive.
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had announced in 2010 that Iran plans to send astronauts into space in 2024. But, later he said that the issue had gone under a second study at a cabinet meeting and that the cabinet had decided to implement the plan in 2019, five years earlier than the date envisaged in the original plan.
Iran launched its first research rocket on Feb. 4, 2009, when it also announced activity of its first space center and its first indigenous satellite - called Omid, or Hope.
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