Iraq was reported to have said today that it has tested a large rocket capable of carrying satellites into space.

Discovery will carry a satellite to track other satellites and relay data to earth.

It would carry a satellite designed and built in Italy, weighing around a ton.

Its mission is to carry heavier satellites into orbit.

On March 26, technicians had to destroy a rocket carrying a satellite when it veered off course.

It was this effort that led the way to the successful production of the great rockets that carried satellites and Astronauts into space.

In the previous year, India had launched its first commercial space rocket, carrying an Italian satellite.

Earlier military missions have carried intelligence-gathering satellites into orbit.

In 1996, a Chinese missile carrying an American satellite exploded just after takeoff.

'You're just carrying an intelligence-gathering satellite back there,' said Baedecker.