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.
“It doesn’t demonstrate any militarily significant technology,” said
Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who tracks rocket launching and
space activity.
“This is a tiny old rocket, and what’s on top is useful
only for doing astronaut stuff.”
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.
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.
Source: The New York Times ...More...
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