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Iran Says It Sent a Monkey Into Space Iran Says It Sent a Monkey Into Space
(about 11 hours later)
LONDON — Iranian state television said on Monday that the country’s scientists had succeeded in sending a monkey into space “as a prelude to sending humans.” Iranian state television said Monday that the nation had put a monkey into space “as a prelude to sending humans.” The successful flight involved a relatively small rocket that went straight up and down, according to the state-sponsored news report, and the monkey survived the flight.
Press TV, the state-run satellite broadcaster, said the animal was launched in a space capsule code named Pishgam, or Pioneer. Western experts said the brief experiment appeared to have few if any immediate military implications, as it might have if Iran had launched a much larger vehicle that could fly high and fast enough to put a major payload into orbit.
The development coincided with continued stalemate in the unrelated Western effort to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear enrichment program, which Western powers maintain is designed to create nuclear weapons technology — an assertion Iran denies. “It doesn’t demonstrate any militarily significant technology,” said Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who tracks rocket launchings and space activity. “This is a tiny old rocket, and what’s on top is useful only for doing astronaut stuff.”
Press TV quoted the director of the Iran Space Agency, Hamid Fazeli, as saying earlier this month that “because of biological similarities between humans and monkeys, the latter were selected for the space mission.” Rather, he and other experts said, the exercise seemed to represent a small but significant step in Iran’s stated goal of developing rockets big and advanced enough to send human astronauts into space — a goal Tehran has repeated publicly for more than a year.
He also forecast that Iran would send a human into space within the “next five to eight years,” and said Iran would send its Sharifsat satellite into orbit before the end of March. Charles P. Vick, an expert on Iranian rockets at a private research group, GlobalSecurity.org, in Alexandria, Va., said that the flight, if truly successful, showed that Iran was slowly mastering the technology of life support.
There was no independent corroboration of the report, which Press TV called evidence of “yet another” scientific achievement following earlier claims that satellites and living creatures had been launched into space. “It’s significant in that it shows progress toward manned spaceflight,” he said in an interview. But Mr. Vick urged caution about the Iranian claims, noting that news media reports suggested that Iran in 2011 had tried and failed to put a monkey into space.
Western monitors have not announced any missiles launchings by Iran in recent days. “I think they messed up,” he said of the reported failure, conceding that other Western experts disagreed on whether Iran had in fact tried to launch a monkey earlier.
The state news agency, IRNA, said the monkey was sent into space on a Kavoshgar rocket that reached a height of 75 miles and “returned its shipment intact,” Reuters reported. The monkey survived, according to Press TV. James E. Oberg, a former NASA engineer and author of a dozen books on human spaceflight, said Iran’s civil space advances also had propaganda value, since the peaceful flights could take global attention off the nation’s military feats and ambitions.
The timing of the reported launching was unclear — either on Monday or within the past few days. An earlier attempt to launch a monkey into space in 2011 was reported to have failed. “To a large degree, it’s a fig leaf,” he said in an interview. “Like the North Koreans, they get to present their program as peaceful when lots of it has to do with weapons development.”
A year earlier, Iran said it sent a mouse, a turtle and worms into space. For decades, space powers have lofted ants, spiders, mice, rats, frogs, snails, fish, turtles, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, monkeys and chimpanzees as cover stories for military programs and as high-flying experiments meant to pave the way for sending humans into orbit. Iran in recent years has said it has launched a mouse, a turtle and a number of worms.
Western powers are sometimes skeptical of Iranian claims of technical advance, but they also fret that ballistic missiles could be used with nuclear warheads — a concern Iran has dismissed. “It’s a question of testing life-support reliability for people,” Mr. Oberg said. “Things in zero gravity don’t always behave like they do in test chambers on earth. It’s prudent to look for things you might have overlooked.”
The news emerged as Western officials in Brussels said they had offered Iran new dates in February to resume the long-running and inconclusive nuclear talks after Iranian officials turned down a request for a meeting in Istanbul at the end of January, Reuters reported. On the military side, Iran has tested and fielded a growing arsenal of powerful missiles that now threaten Israel and limited parts of Europe. In 2009 and 2011, it successfully put satellites into orbit. Aerospace experts say the orbital steps can help Iran develop long-range missiles that one day might target the United States.
The idea of using animals as a precursor to human spaceflight dates to the 1940s and 1950s and became part of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the cold war. Iran is also pursuing a program to enrich uranium, which can fuel reactors or nuclear warheads atop missiles. For many years, Western powers have failed to persuade Iran to abandon the sprawling effort, which they see as aimed at making nuclear arms. Iran has denied that charge and insists its goals are entirely peaceful.
United States scientists sent a rhesus monkey into space in 1949 but the animal died when a parachute malfunctioned. The Soviet Union lofted dogs into space in 1951 and they returned to earth. On Monday, Iran’s Press TV, a state-run broadcaster, said the monkey had been launched in a space capsule code named Pishgam, or Pioneer. It quoted the director of the Iran Space Agency, Hamid Fazeli, as saying this month that “because of biological similarities between humans and monkeys, the latter were selected for the space mission.” He also predicted that Iran would send a human into space within the “next five to eight years.”
In 1957, Moscow’s scientists were the first to launch an animal — a dog called Laika — into orbit. The Soviet Union also won the race to send a human aloft when Yuri A. Gagarin became the first man to orbit the globe in 1961. Western space experts could give no confirmation of the report, which Press TV called evidence of “yet another” Iranian achievement in launching animals into space.
Spurred to respond, the United States embarked on a space program that led to the moon landing of 1969. The state news agency, IRNA, said the monkey rode on a Kavoshgar rocket that reached an altitude of 75 miles and “returned its shipment intact,” Reuters reported. The monkey survived, Press TV said. The timing of the reported launching was unclear — either on Monday or within the past few days.
The report emerged as Western officials in Brussels said they had offered Iran new dates in February to resume the long-running and inconclusive nuclear talks, Reuters reported. Iranian officials reportedly turned down a request for a meeting in Istanbul at the end of January.
Mr. Vick of GlobalSecurity.org said Iran’s program for human spaceflight was apparently making progress not only in launching animals into space but in developing large new rockets and launching facilities.
This month, he said, Iran unveiled information about a space capsule meant to hold human astronauts. “It’s based on Chinese technology,” Mr. Vick said, adding that Iran had nearly completed a large new launching pad big enough for powerful rockets that could loft warheads, satellites or people into space.
“It’s nearly done,” Mr. Vick said of the launching facility. “It’s for the big new launcher they’re building.”

Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London.