Iran launches Monkey into Space

[Kyobanim]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50614548...science-space/

Guess they have to find a new leader now . . .

[Barbarian]

Guess they have to find a new leader now . . .

That's an insult to monkeys everywhere.

[Ret10Echo]

It concerns me that these nutjobs are flinging stuff into space.

On a more humorous note I enjoyed this byline....

"No independent confirmation of the monkey's safe return"

However, this photo was later leaked....

[Flagg]

What's Call Sign: Dead Meat in Farsi?

[Utah Bob]

Damn! Flying monkeys from space! With nukes!
It don't get no worse.i

[SF_BHT]

Now I know where my boss has been

[GratefulCitizen]

Flying monkeys?
Does the Secretary of State have something to do with this?

[Ambush Master]

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

So now they can launch a nuke anywhere in the world if/when they get their "peaceful" nuclear program going. And we havent given Israel the green light why again.........

The Israelis have downgraded the "Nuclear Threat Potential" for Iran. There was some sort of explosion in their main Nuclear Research Facility recently and their program has suffered a major setback. This follows on the heels of several "Power Transmission" lines that were cut just a few months back.

Later
Martin

[Utah Bob]

Originally Posted by Ambush Master

The Israelis have downgraded the "Nuclear Threat Potential" for Iran. There was some sort of explosion in their main Nuclear Research Facility recently and their program has suffered a major setback. This follows on the heels of several "Power Transmission" lines that were cut just a few months back.

Later
Martin

Damn bad luck, that.
Real shame.

[Susa]

Seems Iran is at least 50 years behind us in the "Space Race". Judging by the pictures, it would appear that our little space traveler was a bit happier about his voyage!

From the California Science Center:
"January 31st marks the 52nd anniversary of the flight of HAM the chimpanzee in his Mercury-Redstone capsule.
To appreciate HAM's congribution to spaceflight it's important to remember where we were in the process of space exploration more than 50 years ago.
Rocket boosters didn't work very well. Human ability to function normally during spaceflight had yet to be proven. Space capsules were crude by today's standards although extremely advanced for the period. HAM was actually the subject of an experiment in mental acuity and hand-eye coordination. He pulled a set of levers in response to flashing lights in part to determine if a complex mammal (like a chimp) could manage to complete assigned tasks during weightlessness. To learn more about HAM's historic flight (and historic it was!) check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Redstone_2. Then come to the Science Center to see HAM's MR-2 capsule on display. Compare MR-2 to the Space Shuttle Endeavour and you'll see first hand what 50 years of progress in human space exploration actually means."
-Dr. Ken Phillips, Curator for Aerospace Science

[Utah Bob]

Originally Posted by Susa

Seems Iran is at least 50 years behind us in the "Space Race". Judging by the pictures, it would appear that our little space traveler was a bit happier about his voyage!

From the California Science Center:
"January 31st marks the 52nd anniversary of the flight of HAM the chimpanzee in his Mercury-Redstone capsule.
To appreciate HAM's congribution to spaceflight it's important to remember where we were in the process of space exploration more than 50 years ago.
Rocket boosters didn't work very well. Human ability to function normally during spaceflight had yet to be proven. Space capsules were crude by today's standards although extremely advanced for the period. HAM was actually the subject of an experiment in mental acuity and hand-eye coordination. He pulled a set of levers in response to flashing lights in part to determine if a complex mammal (like a chimp) could manage to complete assigned tasks during weightlessness. To learn more about HAM's historic flight (and historic it was!) check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Redstone_2. Then come to the Science Center to see HAM's MR-2 capsule on display. Compare MR-2 to the Space Shuttle Endeavour and you'll see first hand what 50 years of progress in human space exploration actually means."
-Dr. Ken Phillips, Curator for Aerospace Science

Iran is more than 50 years behind. More like several centuries.

[Barbarian]

Iran is more than 50 years behind. More like several centuries.

I kept waiting for a picture of the giant trebuchet they used, to launch the monkey. I guess that's classified, though.

[MR2]

Originally Posted by Barbarian

I kept waiting for a picture of the giant trebuchet they used, to launch the monkey. I guess that's classified, though.

Now that is funny!

[Utah Bob]

Originally Posted by MR2

Now that is funny!

Atomic powered trebuchet.
For peaceful purposes onlynyou understand.

[BKKMAN]

Seems that the pic of the monkey that was sent up by Iran, doesn't match the monkey that they showed post-flight.

Monkey see, Monkey do

Best quote from the article:

The official explanation is that “the first images provided to Iran’s official news outlets to illustrate their reports had mistakenly shown another of the five monkeys that trained for the flight at the space agency—the one with the mole—and not the one that had actually taken part.” Iran “insisted that the monkey that had made the flight was in good health” but “did not, apparently, offer to disprove rumors that one of the monkeys had died by showing them both.”

Consider another possibility: the theory of multiple monkeys. Iran sends God even knows how many monkeys into space and then cobbles together, surgically, a pastiche monkey from the various limbs of the countless monkey corpses strewn about the spacecraft after it lands. It’s like a Rauschenberg Combine of severed primate remains. Is the “new monkey” one monkey? Is it every monkey? Is it all of us? At a certain point it becomes more of an ontological/philosophical question and less of a biological one.

Hahaha...suck it Iran