ISTANBUL

Iran has used a satellite launch rocket to “successfully” send three shipments of research equipment into space, an official announced on Thursday.

The devices were launched into space with the homegrown Simorgh satellite carrier, according to Ahmad Hosseini, spokesman for space affairs at Iran’s Defense Ministry.

“The research mission successfully included, for the first time, the simultaneous transfer of three shipments of research equipment at an altitude of 470 kilometers, with a launch speed of 7,350 meters per second,” Hosseini was reported as saying by Fars News Agency.

He said the “performance of the components of the space base and the operational stages of the satellite carrier have been successfully completed.”

The research objectives have been achieved, the official added.

Iran’s Tasnim News Agency quoted Hosseini as saying that “telemetric data from the launch were fully collected” and “planning will be done for an operational launch after analyzing the data.”