Iran failed to launch the Zafar remote sensing satellite into orbit with the Simorgh on Sunday. The launch happened at 7:15 p.m. local time at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran’s Semnan province, some 230 kilometres (145 miles) southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran.

“Stage-1 and stage-2 motors of the carrier functioned properly, and the satellite was successfully detached from its carrier, but at the end of its path, it did not reach the required speed for being put in the orbit. Necessary optimisation work will be carried out for the next launch,” Defence Ministry space program spokesman Ahmad Hosseini told state TV.

In the previous attempt in January 2019, Iran failed to launch several satellites into orbit.