MID: Iran fires second rocket into space
26 Nov 2008 10:48 PM
TEHRAN, Nov 26 AFP - Iran has fired a second rocket into space, following up on the success of its first space launch in February, state television said on Wednesday.
"The rocket landed 40 minutes later with a special parachute after performing its functions," said the report posted on the website of state television.
The rocket, Kavoshgar 2 - which means Explorer, is made of three parts, including a space laboratory, the report said.
"The main achievements of the launch were to carry out space experiments on the atmosphere, to test the retrieval system and (ensure) co-ordination between the scientists in an academic project," the report said.
In February, Iran announced the launch of the first Kavoshgar and said that the rocket had reached an altitude of 200 kilometres before returning to earth minutes later.
Iran has pursued a space program for several years, and in October 2005 a Russian-made Iranian satellite named Sina-1 was put into orbit by a Russian rocket.
