Iranian Space Invaders

Iran recently inaugurated a new, national space center with a rocket launch into space. It is currently unconfirmed whether the rocket actually reached space, however, as the internationally defined threshold for "space" is 100 kilometers. Early in 2007, Iran claimed to have put a satellite into space using the Shahab-3 rocket even though the launch did not successfully achieve a sustained orbit. There are seeds of doubt in the international community that Iran's space efforts are merely a cover for developing ballistic missile technology. After all, the Shahab series of rockets are not designed for space lifting, rather they are a rebranded version of North Korea's Nodong and Taepodong series of rockets which were designed for long range strikes from the DPRK against South Korea, Japan and even the United States' mainland.

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