According to its state-run media, Iran conducted a test flight March 15 of a new rocket capable of sending satellites and animals into orbit, Reuters reported.

The Kavoshgar 4 rocket carried a capsule designed to contain living organisms in preparation for planned launches of monkeys and eventually human astronauts, Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported March 17. The report said “data and images” were expected to be “sent from a 120-kilometer orbit.”

Iran’s space and missile program has alarmed much of the global community, which fears the long-range ballistic technology could be used to launch nuclear warheads. In 2010, when Iran tested the previous version of the rocket, the Kavoshgar 3, the United States called it a “provocative act.”

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