Azerbaijan, Baku, May 13 /Trend, D.Khatinoglu/
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Iran will launch Fajr (Dawn) satellite to the space in Iranian Khordad month beginning on May 21, Mehr News Agency reported.
Fajr satellite will be placed in elliptical orbit of 400 km in radius and will remain in space for a year and a half.
Earlier head of Iranian Space Agency, Hamid Fazeli, said referring to the fact that the world will witness further success of Islamic Republic of Iran in the field of launching satellites into space, that sending Fajr satellite into space which was postponed in 2011 will take place in 2012.
He added that the another Iranian shuttle, Kavoshgar-5 (Explorer-5) carrying monkey to space will be launched into space during March-August 2012.
'Kavoshgar-5 will carry a biological capsule containing a monkey into space. This is actually a prelude to preparing Iran for sending a human astronaut into space before 2021,' Fazeli told IRNA in an exclusive interview on March 22.
On November 12, 2011, Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi announced that the country is set to launch into space three domestically-manufactured satellites dubbed Fajr (Dawn), Navid (Harbinger) and Tolou (Rise).