All of may not know this, but more than two decades before Iran became the first Muslim nation to put a satellite into orbit with its own space rocket
Did Iraq not have intentions of building a Supergun to launch things into space? IIRC ther were large diameter "barrels" intercepted en route to Iraq. Project babylon?
All of may not know this, but more than two decades before Iran became the first Muslim nation to put a satellite into orbit with its own space rocket, Iraq under Saddam Hussein had a grand plan to become the Arab world's first spacefaring nation. More details are available at the following link:http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1839/1Anyway, the Iraqi space program was completely terminated due to UN sanctions against Iraq after the Persian Gulf War, and most experts expressed concern that the Al-Abid could be adapted for use as an ICBM. Iraq may restart its space program someday, provided that its space rocket technology is not used to develop a ballistic missile. To do so, it could use the Altair satellites for its first orbital launch, if examination of the satellites indicates that they are still in good condition to be mounted on top of a multistage SLV.
New book coming out.
I have now obtained this book. It has a lot of information about a lot of Iraqi weapons systems. Unfortunately, the section on the Al Abid (which it refers to as the "Al-Aabed") is short and contains no new information.The two best sources on the subject of the Iraqi space program apparently remain my two articles:https://www.thespacereview.com/article/1498/1https://www.thespacereview.com/article/1839/1(Update: added the current cover, and the short entry on the Al-Abid.)