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| Iranians inaugurate space project | Iranians inaugurate space project |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Iran has launched a research rocket to inaugurate the Islamic Republic's first home-built space centre, state television reported. | Iran has launched a research rocket to inaugurate the Islamic Republic's first home-built space centre, state television reported. |
| Pictures were broadcast of a rocket on a launch pad, but there was no footage of it blasting off. | Pictures were broadcast of a rocket on a launch pad, but there was no footage of it blasting off. |
| The test was for Iran's first low-orbit research satellite, which is planned for launch in March next year. | The test was for Iran's first low-orbit research satellite, which is planned for launch in March next year. |
| Correspondents say advances in Iran's missile technology are likely to alarm Tehran's foes among Western powers. | Correspondents say advances in Iran's missile technology are likely to alarm Tehran's foes among Western powers. |
| The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says it is a highly symbolic moment for the launch, on the 29th anniversary of the Iranian revolution and there has been much patriotic music on TV as it reported the story. | |
| The space centre, at an unidentified desert location, includes an underground control station and launch pad for the satellite which will be named Omid (Hope). | |
| "We need to have an active and influential presence inspace," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a televised ceremony before the launch. | |
| "Iran took its first step very strongly, precisely and wisely," he said. "Building and launching a satellite is a very important achievement." | |
| In February 2007, Iran said it launched a rocket capable of reaching space before it made a parachute-assisted descent to Earth. | |
| Western countries fear Iran wants to produce a nuclear weapons, although Tehran denies this, insisting its uranium-enrichment programme is solely to generate electricity. |