Iran's Sounding Rocket "Kavoshgar-5"
 

Norbert Brügge, Germany

Update: 03.02.2012
 

TEHRAN, 2011, July 09 -- Dr. Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Organization, in an interview with IRNA said Kavoshgar-5 is similar to the Safir-e-Omid rocket in terms of structure, which will launch a biocapsule with live monkey into a suborbital altitude of 120 kilometers.
The Kavoshgar-5 rocket will be launched during the month of Mordad (July 23 to August 23) with a 285-kilogramme capsule.

TEHRAN, 2001, Aug. 22 -- The Iranian Space Agency (ISA) said Iran plans to launch a domestically-built satellite carrier, Kavoshgar-5, into space by the end of summer.
Kavoshgar's cargo, with a weight of 300 kg, contains a biological capsule in which a rhesus monkey will be placed.
The rocket will be orbiting at an altitude of 120 to 130 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. The ISA said two other satellites namely Navid and Fajr will also be launched by the end of Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2012).

TEHRAN, 2011 Aug. 30 -- Iran's Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi stated to hope that Iran's Kavoshgar-5 satellite carrier will be launched in September and that the project will play a leading role in making a defense achievement.

TEHRAN, 2011, Sept. 06 --  Iran's domestically-built satellite carrier, Kavoshgar-5, is tasked with carrying the bio-capsule into space with a live creature over the next few days, IRIB quoted General Vahidi as saying on Tuesday. Reports indicate that the launch could take place as early as Wednesday  (2011, Sept. 07).

TEHRAN, 2011, Oct. 03 -- Iran's plans to send a live monkey into space have been postponed indefinitely, the country's top space official said, quoted by the state television website. "One cannot give a set date for this project and as soon as our nation's scientists announce the readiness (of the project) it will be announced," said Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Organisation. He gave no reason for the postponement.

TEHRAN, 2011, Oct. 12 -- Today Iran acknowledged as a failure its attempt to send a live monkey into space last month.
"The Kavoshgar-5 rocket carrying a capsule with a monkey  was launched during Shahrivar," an Iranian calendar month spanning August 23 to September 22, Deputy Science Minister Mohammad Mehdinejad-Nouri was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
"However, the launch was not publicised as all of its anticipated objectives were not accomplished," Mehdinejad-Nouri told reporters.

TEHRAN, 2011, December 04 -- The plan for sending living creature into space was approved and it is waiting for a final approval," Mansour Kabkanian, a professor at Tehran's Amirkabir University, said.
"After the final approval, the plan for sending living creatures into space will be implemented," he said, adding that the country plans to send the living creatures to the altitude of 300 km below the 70 degrees orbit.

TEHRAN, 2012, January 04 -- Head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) says the country will launch a bio-capsule carrying a living creature into space within the next two months. Hamid Fazeli told reporters that the national project will be carried out by sending a monkey into space using a new bio-capsule.
According to Fazeli, ISA scientists are designing and manufacturing a new bio-capsule an example of which was launched into space last winter.
Since it returned to Earth, we have been trying to upgrade it by “solving its problems and boosting its technical features,” he noted.