Iran Archives

2020 TSRQ3 – Infrastructure: Human Spaceflight

Since Yuri Gagarin’s orbital flight around the Earth in April 1961, humans in pioneering new technologies and pushing the limits of what’s considered possible. This year ushered in a new era of human spaceflight when SpaceX became the first . . .

2020 TSRQ2 – Infrastructure: Spacecraft/Satellites Overview

Spacecraft deployment numbers rose by five in 2019, increasing slightly to 466 spacecraft deployments last year. While deployments moved up, space vehicle launch attempts decreased from 114 in 2018 to 103 in 2019. The difference between. . .

2020 TSRQ1 – Infrastructure: Orbital Launch Vehicle Overview

2019 Orbital Space Launch Activity Launch vehicle activities, despite the colloquialisms about rocket science, are routine enough that, on average, two launches occurred per week last year. Seven countries attempted…

2019 TSRQ4 – Infrastructure: Spaceports

Spaceport upgrades and new spaceport development are at an all-time high, with 40 active launch sites around the globe, 10 more in development in the United States, Sweden, Australia and Canada, and 13 more proposed in eight countries. . .

2017 – U.S. Suborbital – Snapshot

Many countries and organizations have floated plans for human suborbital spaceflight. However, there are very few building suborbital launch vehicles for this purpose, and even fewer…

2017 – Iran launches Simorgh – Snapshot

In 2017, Iran was the only other nation to attempt an orbital launch. Iran conducted a single test launch of . . .

2015 – Other Countries, Launch, Payload

Iran made another tentative foray into the global launch family during 2015. The country’s attempt . . .

2014 – Iranian Suborbital

An example of a country using suborbital rockets for testing is Iran, which sent its second monkey into space in December 2013. Lifted aboard a Kavoshgar-e Pazhuhesh sounding rocket to an altitude of 120 kilometers (75 miles), the capsule containing the monkey parachuted safely back to Earth. The monkey, capsule, and rocket are part of Iran’s efforts to send a human into space by 2024.

2014 – U.S. Suborbital

Private companies are developing suborbital reusable launch vehicles as well. Virgin Galactic flight-tested its SpaceShipTwo crewed suborbital vehicle in 2014. The second of the year’s powered test flights of SpaceShipTwo ended in a crash, with the vehicle breaking up mid-flight and killing one pilot. In spite of the tragedy, Virgin Galactic’s ## customers remain committed to their reservations for a flight aboard SpaceShipTwo, with tickets costing $## per seat.

2013 – Other Countries, Launch, Payload

South Korea conducted ## successful orbital launch in 2013. After suffering two previous launch failures of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV)-1, arguments arose between the Russian manufacturers of the vehicle’s first stage and the South Korean manufacturers of the second stage over the responsibility for the vehicle’s failures.