For the first time ever, the regime announced a date for a satellite launching. On May 14, the head of Iran’s aerospatial industries, Mehdi Farahi, said the Fajr satellite would be launched into orbit nine days hence on May 23.
That was the day Iranian negotiators were due to sit down in Baghdad with representatives of the Big Six to discuss Iran’s nuclear program. It was widely assumed the launch was intended to impress the Big Six with Iran’s technological prowess. The talks came off as scheduled—but the launching did not.
After passage of a full week, the space agency announced Tuesday that the Fajr will be launched sometime in the next 10 months. No explanation for the cancelation of the May 23 planned launch was given. However, some skeptics speculated that the launch had been held as planned, but that it failed.
Fajr was to be Iran’s fourth domestically made satellite lofted into orbit aboard a domestically made rocket. Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said Fajr would remain in orbit 18 months or considerably longer than Iran’s previous satellites, none of which has survived as long as 90 days in orbit.