'Iran among top 10 aerospace forerunners'

"Today Iran has emerged as one of the top ten forerunners in the field of space research and technology," said Vahidi in a Thursday address to a rally commemorating the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

"Our stellar progress in space science is only one of the many benefits derived from the victory of the Islamic Revolution more than thirty years ago," he added.

According to Vahidi, the Islamic Revolution has also helped Iran become a strategic power in the region — an event which has troubled Western superpowers.

Iran's aerospace industry has made great strides in the past couple of years. The country marked a breakthrough on February 2 after launching the Kavoshgar 3 (Explorer 3) satellite carrier into space with living organisms — a rat, two turtles and worms — onboard.

Kavoshgar 3, which carries an experimental capsule, has the ability to transfer telemetric information, live pictures as well as flight and environmental analysis data.

Iran went down in history, in February 2009, for placing its domestically-made satellite into orbit and thus joining a small group of countries that have the ability of both producing satellites and sending them into space using domestic launchers.

The Omid data-processing satellite was designed to circle the Earth 15 times every 24 hours and to transmit data via two frequency bands and eight antennas to an Iranian space station.

The country is currently studying preliminary plans to send its very first astronaut into orbit in near future.

Iran's space-related accomplishments have come as a surprise for European powers and the US, mainly because the country has been under Western sanctions for nearly 30 years.

/Press TV/