Speaking on the sidelines of the Conference on Technology Management, General Mehdi Farahi said on Tuesday that the rocket will be launched next week from Imam Khomeini space center in Semnan province as part of the project of sending living organisms into space, IRNA reported.

He recalled, “So far, 6 rockets have been launched in line with sending living organisms into space. The 7th rocket will be placed into orbit at an altitude of 120 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.”

He noted, “By launching these rockets, we aim to achieve the target of sending human into the space.”

The conference, which is being held in Kish International Conference Center on Kish Island, began on Tuesday and will continue till Wednesday.

Iran Space Agency (ISA) sent a monkey into space aboard an indigenous bio-capsule code-named Pishgam (Pioneer) in January 2013. The country also sent its first bio-capsule containing living creatures into the space in February 2010, using the indigenous Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier.

Iran launched its first indigenous satellite, Omid (Hope), in 2009.

The four national satellites—Fajr (Dawn), Rasad (Observation), Amirkabir I, Zafar (Victory) and the Kavoshgar 4 (Explorer 4) satellite carrier were unveiled in February, 2011. The Kavoshgar 4 is capable of sending satellites and carrying living creatures into space.

In June 2011, Iran put the 15.3-kilogram Rasad (Observation) orbiter in space. Rasad’s mission was to take images of the Earth and transmit them along with telemetry information to the ground stations.

Iran also launched Navid-e Elm-o Sanat (Harbinger of Science and Industry), another indigenous satellite, into the orbit on February 3, 2012.

BA/BA