Iran postpones monkey's ride into space

Iran's plans to send a live monkey into space have been postponed indefinitely, the country's top space official said, quoted on Monday by the state television website.

"One cannot give a set date for this project and as soon as our nation's scientists announce the readiness (of the project) it will be announced," said Hamid Fazeli, head of Iran's Space Organization.

• Iran launches rocket with monkey doll into space
  

Fazeli had said in mid-June that a Kavoshgar-5 rocket would be launched "during the month of Mordad (July 23 to August 23) with a 285-kilogram capsule carrying a monkey to an altitude of 120 kilometres (74 miles)." He gave no reason on Monday for the postponement.

Iranian satellite launched into space (Photo: AFP) 

"Our scientists are exerting continuous efforts on this project... our colleagues are busy with empirical studies and sub-system testing of this project so it is a success," he said.

In mid-March, Iran's space organisation announced the launch of the Kavoshgar-4 rocket carrying a test capsule designed to house the monkey.

The capsule had been unveiled in February by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, along with four new prototypes of home-built satellites the country hopes to launch before March 2012.

At the time, Fazeli touted the launch of a large animal into space as the first step towards sending a man into space, which Tehran says is scheduled for 2020.

Iran has already sent small animals into space -- a rat, turtles and worms -- aboard a capsule carried by its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in 2010.

The Islamic republic, which first put a satellite into orbit in 2009, has outlined an ambitious space programme amid Western concerns it may be linked to developing a ballistic missile capability that could deliver nuclear warheads.

Tehran has repeatedly denied that its contentious nuclear and scientific programmes mask military ambitions.

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