Orbital Launch Site
On occasion of the 10th anniversary of the 1998 Kwangmyongsong 1 satellite launch attempt, program conducted by North Korea in close cooperation with Iran and Pakistan, the Iranian Space Agency has proceeded with its own test. According to practice also observed by North Korea, Iranian authorities announced to their Chinese allies on August 16, 2008 the imminent launch of a satellite. On August 17, 2008 on the occasion of the birthday anniversary of Shiites' 12th Imam Hazrat Mahdi, Iran proceeded as preannounced with the second test launch of a three stages Safir SLV from a site 35°14′5″N 53°55′15″E / 35.23472°N 53.92083°E / 35.23472; 53.92083 south of Semnan in the northern part of the Dasht-e-Kavir desert. Reza Taghizadeh, head of the Iranian Aerospace Organization, told state television "The Safir (Ambassador) satellite carrier was launched today and for the first time we successfully launched a dummy satellite into orbit". As reported in late 2009 and early 2010, a new, larger launch pad was under construction at 35°15′30″N 53°57′17″E / 35.25833°N 53.95472°E / 35.25833; 53.95472
Read more about this topic: Semnan Province
Famous quotes containing the words launch and/or site:
“I had often stood on the banks of the Concord, watching the lapse of the current, an emblem of all progress, following the same law with the system, with time, and all that is made ... and at last I resolved to launch myself on its bosom and float whither it would bear me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It’s given new meaning to me of the scientific term black hole.”
—Don Logan, U.S. businessman, president and chief executive of Time Inc. His response when asked how much his company had spent in the last year to develop Pathfinder, Time Inc.’S site on the World Wide Web. Quoted in New York Times, p. D7 (November 13, 1995)