Iranian crewed spacecraft

The Iranian crewed spacecraft is a proposal by the Iranian Space Agency and Iranian Aerospace Research Institute of the Iranian Space Research Center (ISRC) to put an astronaut into space.

Iran expressed for the first time its intention to send a human to space during the summit of Soviet and Iranian Presidents in 1990. Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev reached an agreement in principle with erstwhile President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to make joint Soviet-Iranian manned flights to Mir space station but agreement was never realized after dissolution of USSR.

Iranian News Agency claimed on 21 November 2005, that the Iranians have a manned space program along with plans for the development of a spacecraft and a space laboratory. [1] Iran Aerospace Industries Organization (IAIO) head Reza Taghipour on 20 August 2008, revealed Iran intends to launch a manned mission into space within a decade. This goal was described as the country's top priority for the next 10 years, in order to make Iran the leading space power of the region by 2021.[2][3]

In August 2010, President Ahmadinejad announced that Iran's first astronaut should be sent into space on board an Iranian spacecraft by no later than 2019 and expressed the wish to be this first astronaut after retirement from president status.[4][5]

Some details of the design were published by the institute in its "Astronaut" publication in February 2015.[6][7] A mock up of the spaceship was displayed on 17 February 2015 during the ceremony of the national day of space of Iran. The head of the institute announced that the spaceship will be launched to space in about one year,[8] which did not happen. The Iranian President and several of the ministers were present in the unveiling and the ceremony.[9]

If funded and developed, US Mercury and SU Vostok class Iranian small capsuled spacecraft would carry a single astronaut to a 175 km altitude and return it to Earth. The spacecraft was designated the code name "Class E Kavoshgar" project. The main components include the launcher adapter, spacecraft, and the launch abort system. A sub-orbital test flight with monkey was conducted in 2016.[10]

According to Iran's Space Administrator, this program was put on hold in 2017 indefinitely.[11]

According to unofficial Chinese internet sources, an Iranian participation in the future Chinese space station program has been under discussion.[12] Currently Iran doesn't have a medium lift rocket similar to Long March 2F, GSLV Mk III and H-IIA. Therefore, developing of full scale spacecraft able to dock with any station is unlikely by Iran due to the lack of equipment.[13]

References
  1. "Iran plans manned space mission in 10 years". Reuters. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  2. "First Iranian in space within decade". Ynetnews. 20 August 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  3. "Iran to send first astronaut into space within 10 years". RIA Novosti. 20 August 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  4. "Iran aims to send man into space by 2019". BBC News. 7 December 2019.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2019.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2019.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "A review to the next generation crewed spaceship of Iran" (PDF). February 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  8. "Iran Unveils Mock-Up of Manned Spacecraft". 17 February 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  9. "Iran displays manned spacecraft prototype". 18 February 2015. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  10. "Dispatching Iranian astronaut to below 200 km orbit". Iranian Space Agency. 31 May 2011. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  11. GLADSTONE, RICK. "Iran Drops Plan to Send Human into Space, Citing Cost".
  12. "权威发布:神舟飞船将从神八开始批量生产". 新华网. 26 September 2008. Archived from the original on 29 September 2008. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2019.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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