Iran officially opened its new Imam Khomeini National Space Center with a bang, according to state media reports on July 27, successfully launching its two-stage Simorgh rocket into space. Though Iranian state television showed footage of the firing of the rocket, it and other Iranian media did not offer details of the launch's mission profile or of the Simorgh's payload. The Simorgh is designed to carry a satellite weighing up to 250 kilograms (550 pounds) into an orbit of 500 kilometers (310 miles). Whether the rocket carried a payload into orbit or was a suborbital test of one of the Simorgh's stages or the rocket as a whole awaits confirmation from outside sources....
