Iran Launches Last Orbital Attempt of 2021

On Thursday, December 30 at 03:30 UTC (10:30 ET on December 29), Iran unexpectedly launched the Simorgh rocket for the last orbital attempt of 2021 with three unknown payloads from the Imam Khomeini Space Centre. It is thought to have been an orbital attempt though the Iranian Space Agency classified it as suborbital because the upper stage seems to have got just short of orbit. No satellites have been tracked, so it is expected to have been a failed mission. All previous launches of Simorgh also failed. This was the 4th launch of Simorgh, the 14th Iranian mission, and the 144th orbital attempt of 2021. Since this is the last Future Astronaut article of the year, I want to wish all readers a happy and safe New Year on behalf of myself, Funitel toSpace (co-owner), and Lane Breckenridge (livestream producer).