Russia’s Telecoms Minister Nikolai Nikiforov said his country’s space agency Roscosmos and Iranian space organizations are to increase cooperation in the field of aerospace technology.
At a press conference in Moscow with Iran’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi, Nikiforov said, “Iran is very interested in the experience of the Russian space program, including in the sphere of communications. Indeed, my colleague Vaezi has repeatedly talked about Iran’s interest in the use of Russian satellite technology. This is being discussed with Roscosmos.”
According to Machinery Market, Iran successfully launched its first data-processing satellite, Omid (meaning hope), into orbit in 2009. It launched its second satellite, Rasad (observation), into orbit in June 2011 to take images of the earth and transmit them to ground stations.
In January 2013, Iran sent a monkey into space on a one-way trip aboard a bio-capsule called Pishgam (pioneer). Later that year, another monkey was sent into space; it came back alive and well.
