Satnews Daily
December 14th, 2010

Iran... Speaking Of Spaceports (Launch)


[SatNews] Iran plans to construct its second spaceport, Communications and Information Technology Minister Reza Taqipour said on Sunday.

Taqipour told the Mehr News Agency, "At present, there is only one space launch base in the country... but there are some geographical limitations (in regard to launching satellites and missiles)." Iran then completed a feasibility study on the construction of a second spaceport in order to overcome limitations, he added. The current launch site is located in Semnan Province, and in recent years, two spacecraft have been launched from the center. Taqipour also said there are two telemetry tracking and control centers in the country that can track and control satellites launched from Iran, but they belong to other countries. Iran successfully launched their Kavoshgar 3 (Explorer 3) manufactured satellite that carried a rat, turtles, and worms in February of 2010. Iran also plans to send actual people into space within 10 years.