- Iran tried to launch a rocket on Thursday, but satellite imagery of the launch showed that the country’s latest attempt to put a satellite in orbit ended in failure.
- The rocket apparently blew up on the launchpad. It was the third failed attempt this year – launches in January and February were both unsuccessful, with something going wrong in flight.
- On Twitter on Friday, President Donald Trump called the latest failure a “catastrophic accident” and said the US was not involved. “I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened,” he said.
- The US has previously warned Iran against engaging in such activities, expressing concerns that the rocketry required to put a satellite in space could be used to develop long-range ballistic missiles to deliver nuclear warheads.
Satellite images from Iran’s latest rocket launch suggest that the rocket blew up on the launchpad, marking the country’s third failed launch this year.
Photos from Thursday’s launch provided to NPR by Planet Labs show smoke rising up from the Imam Khomeini Space Centre.
“This look likes the space launch vehicle blew up on the launchpad,” Dave Schmerler, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told NPR.
Read the article by Ryan Pickerell in Business Insider Australia.