[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: This is such a fantastic Iranian achievement one
wonders why they haven't released photos of astronauts working outside the
international space station.]

Iran Watching Astronauts at Space Stations through Home-Made Optical Systems
News number: 9010175480 16:14 | 2012-02-20
http://english.farsnews.com/NewsV.php?news=all

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi
stressed Iran's high technological capabilities in various fields, and said
Iran is able to easily watch astronauts at international space stations
through the help of its advanced home-made optical systems.

"We can watch international space stations very well and when an astronaut
comes out to do his/her jobs, we easily watch him/her from the Earth by the
means of our home-made optical systems," Vahidi said in Tehran on Monday.

The Islamic republic, which first put a satellite into orbit in 2009, has
outlined an ambitious space program and has, thus far, made giant progress
in the field despite western sanctions and pressures against its
advancement.

Earlier this month, Iran successfully sent Navid-e Elm-o Sana'at satellite
into orbit.

The 50-kilogram orbiter lifted off into space with an orbital angle of 55
degrees on the Iranian-made Safir satellite-carrier.

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

Meantime, Head of Iran's Space Agency (ISA) Hamid Fazeli said that Iran
plans to set up a national base for satellite launch.

Fazeli said that the base will be set up with the cooperation of the
country's Defense Ministry.