Iran to send monkey into space

Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Agency (ISA), said a living organism would soon be sent on board the Pishgam (Pioneer) satellite carrier.

"The ISA is fully prepared to send the Pishgam satellite carrier bearing a bio-capsule with a living creature," Fazeli was quoted as saying.

Iran sent its first bio-capsule of living creatures into space in February 2010, using the indigenous Kavoshgar 3 carrier.

The country successfully launched its first indigenous data-processing satellite, the Omid (Hope), into orbit in 2009.

Iran is one of the 24 founding members of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space set up in 1959.