Iran launches second monkey into space

[bananas]

Source: Guardian

Iran has sent a monkey into space for the second time, according to media reports.

Iran's state TV reported that the launch of the rocket called Pajohesh, or Research in Farsi, marked Iran's first use of liquid fuel in such an operation. It said the rocket reached a height of 72 miles before the monkey, named Fargam or Auspicious, was returned to Earth safely.

<snip>

Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president congratulated scientists on Saturday for the successful mission.

His website said: "President Rouhani appreciated the Iranian scholars for dispatch of the second monkey named 'Fargam' into space and its successful return.

"The president also congratulated the supreme leader of the Islamic revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Iranian nation on the significant achievement. He wished further success for the Iranian experts."

<snip>

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/14/iran-launches-monkey-space-second-time

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Congratulations to Iran!

And especially to everyone who worked on that project!

To send a living organism into space and return them successfully requires utmost care on every part of the project.

Hopefully this success will encourage Iran's leaders to make more resources available for their manned space program.

As far back as 1996, Dr. Bruce Cordell predicted that around 2015 a new era of human spaceflight would begin - what he called a "Maslow Window", where social and economic cycles converge, where humanity as a whole climbs the Maslow hierarchy of needs.

President Rouhani, you should stop wasting money on nuclear energy, and invest that money in your manned space program instead. Even US electric utilities abandoned their plans for new reactors after realizing the "nuclear rennaissance" pushed by assholes like Bush and Cheney was all hype and a waste of money. But SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Bigelow, Boeing, and other companies are moving humanity forward into space. The European Union is talking to China about sending astronauts on the Shenzou. A spaceport in Iran would be much closer, why would you delay this opportunity for international cooperation with your neighbors? Why would you waste even one more cent on an outdated over-priced dirty dangerous technology like nuclear energy, a technology which just creates distrust and disharmony with your neighbors, when you could accelerate mankind's next great adventure?

[onehandle]

1. I thought President Bush came home on Air Force One with President Obama?

Did they drop him off in Iran? Now that would be even bigger news.

Glad George returned from his mission all right.

[darkangel218]

3. lmao!!!!

[yurbud]

11. He probably thought Laura put him in another ride at the grocery store

[warrant46]

13. Back from space

[darkangel218]

2. What happened to the first monkey?

[bananas]

6. He was a little freaked out, but otherwise ok. nt

[bananas]

19. Oops - there were three monkeys, the first died, this is the second successful monkey

They also launched a puppet monkey before launching a live monkey.
Some people confused the various monkey photos and thought it was faked.
This is from after the first successful monkey in January 2013:

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31172.50

Topic: Kavoshgar Pishgam -- Aftab (Iranian Space Monkey)

<snip>

[hr] hossein
« Reply #54 on: 02/01/2013 10:40 PM »

<snip>

Apparently, three monkeys were launched into space:
1-March 12 2011, Kavoshgar 4, launched with a puppet monkey. This was for the purpose of testing the modules.
<snip>

2-A live monkey was sent using Kavoshgar 5 between August 23 to September 22. This was a failure. The poor monkey died. The monkey used was the one with the large mole on its face:
<snip>

3-The most recent launch using the monkey without the mole:
<snip>
[hr]

Here's some DU threads from the first successful monkey launch:

Iran launches monkey into space: state news agency
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014382882

Iran May Have Faked Its 'Successful' Space Monkey Trip
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022298144

Ahmadinejad says he is ready to be first Iranian in space
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022309124

Confirmed: Ahmadinejad has been sent to space
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022272846

McCain: Iran’s president is a monkey
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022309957

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. The Chinese and the Iranians are busy in space.

Us, we're busy trashing billions of dollars worth of military equipment in Afghanistan.

[penultimate]

10. The US is also pretty busy in space too...

We still have some rovers trolling around Mars, and MAVEN is on its way there now. There was GRAIL, which did some moon mapping back in 2011 or 2012. Juno is will arrive at Jupiter in a few years. Then there's stuff like Insight that is set to launch toward Mars in 2016. Not to mention all the other sciencey stuff that aren't sent to other planets, but put close to Earth. Seems pretty busy to me.

I suppose they could send monkeys up into space instead. I'm not knocking Iran's or China's accomplishments, but I don't see how them having success means the US is no longer involved in space exploration.

[CFLDem]

16. Don't forget the x-37 unmanned space shuttle

which is hella cool. 👍

Space isn't for humans quite yet. While we should continue to invest in manned space flight to Mars and beyond, unmanned space expeditions is what will give us more bang for our buck.

[yurbud]

12. and busy giving it to Wall Street assholes to burn on coke and whores

[joshcryer]

14. Little known fact: Army space budget is larger than NASA's.

Pretty damn fucked up. We spend more on spy satellites than we do the manned space program!

We'll probably be back to launching people into space soon enough and will probably do a manned asteroid flyby by the end of the decade. But it won't be Lunar Landing leadership, it'll be meh, who cares.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Today is Monkey Day, but this is a bad way to celebrate it. nt

[bananas]

7. Hallmark Cards describes it as the "one day when monkey business is actually encouraged."

Didn't know about this,thanks!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_Day

Origins[edit]

The holiday was started in 2000 when artist Casey Sorrow, then an art student at Michigan State University, jokingly scribbled Monkey Day on a friend's calendar,[5][6] and then first celebrated the holiday with other MSU art students.[6] It gained notoriety when Sorrow and fellow MSU art student Eric Millikin began including Monkey Day in their artwork and Fetus-X comic strips, and began promoting it online along with other artists.[7] Since then, Monkey Day has been celebrated internationally, across countries like the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.[5][8][9]

Traditional celebrations[edit]

Hallmark Cards describes it as the "one day when monkey business is actually encouraged."[10] The holiday is primarily celebrated with costume parties intended to help draw attention to issues related to simians, including medical research, animal rights, and evolution.[11] Often there are competitions to see who has the best costumes, who can act like a monkey the longest, or speed knitting of monkey dolls.[8][12] The holiday cuts across religious boundaries and provides opportunities to share monkey stories and contemplate our simian relatives.[13][14] Other Monkey Day activities include going on shopping sprees for Paul Frank "Julius the Monkey" fashions, eating Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream, and spending the day at the zoo.[15]

<snip>

[paleotn]

8. Fargam?

...Well I guess they wouldn't name him Ham.

http://ham.space.umn.edu/kris/ham.html

Congrats, Iran and welcome to the club.

[1000words]

9. Pray for Mojo

[DFW]

15. That's nice and all

I mean, we and the Russians advanced to this stage around 1961. For all the money and resources all of us spend on these projects, neither we, the Russians, and certainly not the Iranians have managed to feed, clothe, and house all of our citizens yet.

But that, of course, is not news, and there is nothing so stale as yesterday's headlines.

[jsr]

17. And The Monkey Has Landed.

[daleo]

18. That says something about ballistic missile capability, too

I don't mean that as an alarmist, but it's a fact. We are moving towards a world where power will be much less asymmetrical. International relations will have to adapt to that.

[Bucky]

20. The idea of a Muslim monkey up in space looking down on me is frightening.