TEHRAN, Iran
(AP) -- A gray-tufted monkey strapped in a pod resembling an infant's
car seat rode an Iranian rocket into space and returned safely,
officials said Monday in what was described as a step toward Tehran's
goal of a manned space flight.
The mission
also touched on concerns that advances in Iran's rocket expertise could
be channeled into military use for long-range weapons that might one day
carry nuclear warheads. Iran says it does not seek atomic weapons.
Launching
a live animal into space - as the U.S. and the Soviet Union did more
than a half-century ago in the infancy of their programs - may boost a
country's stature. But John Logsden, a space policy professor emeritus
at George Washington University, said Iran's achievement should draw no
concern.
"A slight monkey on a suborbital
flight is nothing to get too excited about," he said. "They already had
the capability to launch warheads in their region."
U.S.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. had no way
to confirm the monkey's voyage, but that it was concerned by the reports
because "any space launch vehicle capable of placing an object in orbit
is directly relevant to the development of long-range ballistic
missiles."
The U.N. Security Council has expressly forbidden Iran from such ballistic missile activity, Nuland added.
In
June 2010, the Security Council banned Iran from pursuing "any activity
related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons."
With its ambitious aerospace program, Iran has said it wants to become a technological leader for the Islamic world.
It's
not the first time Iran has announced it had rocketed a live creature
out of the Earth's atmosphere. The country sent a mouse, a turtle and
some worms into space in 2010, officials said.
But
the purported successful voyage of the small monkey, shown wearing a
protective vest, put Iran among just a handful of nations that have sent
a primate into space in a mission seen as a precursor of human
spaceflight. No name was given for the monkey.
Earlier
this month, the director of Iran's space agency, Hamid Fazeli, said
Iran wanted to launch its first manned space mission in as soon as five
years - a goal that stretches back to the shah's fascination with NASA
years before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"Iran
is on its way to send a man into space," said Iran's Defense Minister
Gen. Ahmad Vahidi in comments posted on the ministry's website.
He
added that the capsule "returned to Earth safely at the expected speed,
together with the monkey inside," without giving further details.
According
to state TV, the rocket dubbed "Pishgam," or "Pioneer" in Farsi,
reached a height of 120 kilometers (72 miles), pushing into the
threshold of space.
Iran's state TV broadcast
its first video pictures showing Iranian scientists fixing the seated
monkey into the rocket before the launch. It did not give any details on
the timing or location of the launch.
Still
images also showed the monkey wearing a type of molded body protection
and being strapped tightly into a red plastic seat. The monkey was shown
immobilized with straps and his face poked through a purple shield that
covered his head and upper body.
Fazel said
the monkey parachuted safely with the remaining last stage of the
rocket. The TV also showed experts walking to the site in the middle of a
desert where the monkey landed.
Fazel told
the state TV that Iran will launch a bigger rocket together with a
larger animal to obtain greater safety assurances before sending a man
into space.
For Iran, its aerospace program is
a source of national pride at a time of slumping economic fortunes from
Western sanctions. It's also one of the pillars of Iran's aspirations
to be seen as the technological hub for Islamic and developing
countries.
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, and others repeatedly describe scientific progress -
including Iran's uranium enrichment labs - as a patriotic duty in
response to Western economic and diplomatic pressures.
Iran's
rocket technology alarms the West as giving it intercontinental reach
for a possible arsenal. Already, conventional Iranian missiles are
capable of reaching Israel and U.S. military bases in the Persian Gulf.
Iran
insists it only seeks nuclear reactors for energy and medical
applications. But authorities also say there can be no retreat from
homegrown technological development in all fields - from peaceful
nuclear research to military surveillance drones.
Tehran has announced several successful launches of satellites, dating back to 2005 in a joint project with Russia.
In
November, the head of Iran's powerful parliamentary committee on
security and foreign policy, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, warned that "no power
can prevent Iran's progress in scientific and nuclear science fields."
Similar statements were made last year when Iran announced plans for a new space center.
Few
details have emerged on the new facility, but Iran already has a major
satellite launch complex near Semnan, about 200 kilometers (125 miles)
east of Tehran. A satellite monitoring facility is located outside
Mahdasht, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) west of the Iranian capital.
Iran
says it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural
disasters in the earthquake-prone nation, improve telecommunications and
expand military surveillance in the region.
The
mission involving the monkey drew historical links to the earliest
years of the space race in the 1950s when both the U.S. and the Soviet
Union tested rockets with animals on board, including American capsules
carrying monkeys and Moscow's holding dogs. Many of the animals on the
early flights perished because of equipment failure or technology unable
to cope with re-entry from sub-orbit.
Later
in the 1960s, the U.S. and Soviets sent animals into orbit for further
biological tests on space flight and other nations, including France and
China, sent animals on rocket flights.
"They're
following the path that we followed more than half a century ago,"
Logsdon said, adding that Iran is probably ahead of India in terms of
space ability, but behind its arch foe Israel.
People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it was "appalled" by photos
of what it described as a "visibly terrified monkey crudely strapped
into a restraint device."
It said it had urged Iran in 2011 not to send a primate into space.
"Iran is repeating the wasteful and cruel mistakes that marked the darkest days of the space race," PETA said in a statement.
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
