SPACE PROGRAMME OF IRAN

Iran’s space agency plans to send a manned rocket into space in the next 10 years. Space agency chief Reza Taghipoor said the exact date of the mission would be determined in the next year. The announcement is the latest signal of Iran’s growing ambition to develop a space and satellite program and comes days after the country announced it had launched a dummy satellite into orbit. Taghipoor said the two-stage rocket released equipment that beamed flight data back to ground control, though U.S. officials said the rocket fell short of its claimed success. In February, the Islamic republic’s space agency unveiled its first major space centre and its first domestically built satellite, and it also tested one of its rockets. Iran has said it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural disasters and improve telecommunications. Iran is hoping to join a select few countries with the ability to independently place satellites into orbit, a group that includes regional rival Israel as well as India. Its developing space program has provoked unease abroad, as the same technology used to put satellites into space can also deliver warheads.