Iran's president ready for space travel
2013-02-04 19:03
Tehran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday
that he's ready to take the risk of being the first Iranian astronaut sent into
space as part of Iran's goal of a manned space flight.
"I'm ready to be the first Iranian to sacrifice
myself for our country's scientists," the official IRNA news agency quoted
him as saying in an address to space scientists in Tehran.
Space tourist Anousheh Ansari was the first Iranian to
make a journey into space aboard a Soyuz TMA-9 capsule from Baikonur,
Kazakhastan, in September 2006.
The 40-year-old telecommunications entrepreneur paid a
reported $20m for a space station visit. Her journey became an inspiration to
women in male-dominated Iran.
Iran sent a monkey into space last Monday, describing the
launch a successful step toward Tehran's plan to send an astronaut into space
within the next five to six years.
The monkey named Pishgam, which means pioneer in Farsi,
reportedly travelled 120km and safely returned to Earth.
In 2010, Iran said it launched an Explorer rocket into
space carrying a mouse, a turtle and worms.
Iran's space officials say Iran will launch a bigger
rocket carrying a larger animal to obtain greater safety assurances before
sending a man into space.
Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Iran will soon send a
satellite into space from its Imam Khomeini Space Centre, which is still under
construction.
The news agency didn't elaborate and did not disclose the
location of the space centre, but Iran already has a major satellite launch
complex near Semnan, about 200km east of Tehran.
A satellite monitoring facility is located outside
Mahdasht, about 70km west of the Iranian capital.
Iran says it wants to put its own satellites into orbit
to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation, improve
telecommunications and expand military surveillance in the region.
- AP
