Iran use indigenous systems to watch astronauts

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.