Travel Security Update

New York (AirGuide - Travel Security Update) Jan 31, 2010 The Iranian government announced Feb. 3 that it had successfully launched into low Earth orbit a capsule containing live animals and featuring a camera mounted on the vehicle that provided a live video stream of the rocketOs ascent. The Feb. 2 launch of the Kavoshgan 3 rocket came a year after IranOs launch of its 27-kilogram Omid store-and-forward telecommunications satellite and was accompanied by a Feb. 3 unveiling of three new Iranian-built satellite designs and a new rocket engine. IranOs government-controlled Press TV on Feb. 3 broadcast videos of the launch as seen from the ground and from the rocket-mounted camera. Iranian officials said the rocket carried a rat, called Helmiz 1, as well as two turtles and a worm. The expected duration of the capsule experiment was not disclosed. Earlier versions of the Kavoshgan rocket were launched in February and November 2008. At a Feb. 3 ceremony attended by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian Aerospace Organization unveiled three new telecommunications satellites, called Toulou, Mesbah 2 and Navid. Also unveiled at the ceremony was the Simorgh engine, which according to the Press TV report is designed to place a 100-kilogram satellite into a 500-kilometer orbit. Jan 29, 2010