Iran plans to launch three domestically designed satellites in six months, a high-ranking Iranian aerospace official told the country's English-language Press TV on Thursday.

Deputy head of Iran Space Agency (ISA), Hamid Fazeli, said that three satellites - Tadbir, Nahid and Sharif Sat - will be delivered to orbit before the current Iranian calendar year ends on March 20, 2014.

Fazeli also expressed hope that the Pishgam-2 (Pioneer-2) bio-capsule with a living creature on board, will travel into space atop a domestically-produced rocket soon.

Iran launched its first domestically-produced satellite Omid (Hope) in 2009, an endeavor that made it the ninth country with the ability to launch satellites. A year later, the country launched a Kavoshagar-3 rocket that delivered a rat, two turtles and a worm into space.

In late January Iran reportedly launched a bio-capsule with a live monkey into space, which reached an altitude of more than 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) and returned to Earth safely. Fazeli earlier said the country plans a manned space launch within the next five or eight years.

Source: RIA Novosti