Article Posted on : - Oct 14, 2013

A file photo.

TEHRAN (AP): An Iranian newspaper is reporting that the Islamic Republic plans to send another monkey into space within a month.

A report on Sunday in the conservative daily Jomhuri Eslami quoted the deputy head of Iran's space agency, Hamid Fazeli, as saying that the planned launch was part of the country's plans to send a human to space in 2018.

Earlier this year, Iran claimed it launched a monkey out of the Earth's atmosphere and successfully had it return.

Fazeli was quoted in Sunday's article as saying that animals with a similar weight as monkeys were under consideration as future space test subjects.

In September, Iran suggested it may start launching Persian cats into space.