Click photo to enlarge
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, listens to his
Defence Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, as he looks at engine
of a domestically-built satellite booster rocket, in
Tehran, yesterday. . (AP Photo)
Iran announced today it launched a menagerie of
animals - including a mouse, two turtles and worms - into space
on a research rocket, a feat President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said
showed Iran could defeat the West in the battle of technology.
Ahmadinejad also unveiled the model of a light booster rocket
that is being built and three new, Iranian-built satellites,
touted as the latest achievements in the country's ambitious
space programme.
The Iranian space programme has worried Western powers, which
fear the same technology used to launch satellites and
research capsules could also be used to build long-range
intercontinental missiles and deliver warheads.
A US defence expert said there was no scientific purpose to
launching such animals into space and that the launch was
likely more aimed at boosting Iran's prestige.
To test a life-support system of use to humans, "the obvious
choice would be to send a monkey," said James Lewis, senior
fellow at Washington-based Centre for Strategic and
International Studies. "Worms in space serve no purpose."
"The launch was clearly part of Iran's effort to advance
military technology and assert political dominance in space,"
said Lewis "It's also a show of confidence. Space rockets
give you prestige and influence, and that is what Iran
seeks."
The launch of the rocket Kavoshgar-3, which means Explorer-3
in Farsi, was announced by Defence Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi
to mark the National Day of Space Technology. The
announcement came a year after Iran sent its first
domestically made telecommunications satellite - called Omid,
or Hope - into orbit for 40 days.
Iran's state TV broadcast images of officials putting a
mouse, two turtles and about a dozen creatures that looked
like worms inside a capsule into the Explorer-3, which
appeared to be about 3m long. TV then aired footage of
the rocket blasting off.
The rocket was fitted with a life-support system and cameras
that filmed the condition and movements of the animals as
well as images from the rocket's exterior, transmitting it to
experts on the ground, as it arched up into space, the state
news agency IRNA reported.
The rocket traveled "beyond the atmosphere" and parachuted
back to Earth, said Ebrahim Mahmoudzadeh, a senior Defence
Ministry official. He did not specify precisely how high it
flew, but suggested its animal payload had survived.
"The main mission of Explorer-3 was to travel beyond
atmosphere carrying living animals in certain living
conditions so that it would go and get back safely," he said
on state television. "The work was successful."
Iran's lofty space plans also include putting a man in orbit
within 10 years.
Ahmadinejad praised the latest launch and said greater events
would come in the future.
