Iran will send a man into space till 2021, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today during the event on the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Fars news agency reported.
Earlier, the head of Iran's Space Agency Hamid Fazeli said on Monday that the preparatory work is being held to launch the artificial satellite Kavoshgar 4. It will send living organisms into the orbit.
He said that the operations were launched to send a cosmonaut into orbit.
First, Iran sent living organisms into space in Feb. 2010 via the artificial satellite Kavoshgar 3.
"Recently we have sent living organisms into space. According to the Iranian Space Agency's program, the first astronaut should have been sent into space in 2024, but the state prematurely was able to implement some programs, and Iran's first astronaut will fly to space in 2017," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in August 2010.
He said that big changes will occur in global diplomacy by sending the first Iranian astronaut into space.
Kavoshgar 4 will send monkeys into the orbit, İSNA news agency reported. Earlier, mice and frogs were sent to the orbit.