Space-traveling copy of Holy Quran unveiled in Tehran

TEHRAN,Oct.31(MNA) -- The copy of Holy Quran taken into space by Russian Soyuz TMA-01M Commander Alexander Kaleri was unveiled at the 18th Tehran International Press Festival Sunday. The Holy Quran was sent into space last year at the request of Iranian space analyst Sirus Borzu on September 7, 2010 and was returned on March 16 2011. During the ceremony held here Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla hosting the ongoing Press Festival, Borzu said that the first page of the Holy Book bears the stamp of the International Space Station (ISS). Borzu, who has been living in Russia for about forty years, added that the Russian astronaut Kaleri expressed his thanks to him after he returned home and said that he and his companions had a difficult journey into space but the Holy Book helped them to overcome the difficulties. He continued that the first item sent into space was a collection of postcards by Iranian master miniaturist Mahmud Farshchian and the second was the Holy Quran. “I am planning to allocate the third item to the text inscribed on the Cyrus Cylinder in addition to its Persian, English and Russian translations,” he added. The Press Festival will come to an end on Tuesday.