Yahoo: Iran launches monkey into space, showing missile progress

[Larry]

Link.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it had launched a live monkey into space, seeking to show off missile systems that have alarmed the West because the technology could potentially be used to deliver a nuclear warhead.

The Defense Ministry announced the launch as world powers sought to agree a date and venue with Iran for resuming talks to resolve a standoff with the West over Tehran's contested nuclear program before it degenerates into a new Middle East war.

Efforts to nail down a new meeting have failed repeatedly and the powers fear Iran is exploiting the diplomatic vacuum to hone the means to produce nuclear weapons.

The Islamic Republic denies seeking weapons capability and says it seeks only electricity from its uranium enrichment so it can export more of its considerable oil wealth.

The powers have proposed new talks in February, a spokesman for the European Union's foreign policy chief said on Monday, hours after Russia urged all concerned to "stop behaving like children" and commit to a meeting.

Iran earlier in the day denied media reports of a major explosion at one of its most sensitive, underground enrichment plants, describing them as Western propaganda designed to influence the nuclear talks.

I should mention that so far, no one has confirmed that Iran actually launched anything.

I would certainly ASSUME that if Iran launched anything, we knew about it before it cleared the atmosphere. (Whether we would confirm that they launched anything, might be another matter.)

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Have to admit to several reactions to this:

Part of me is "Geez, the loons are stirring the pot again."

Part of me is "Gee, they're launching living things into space, and we can't, right now."

And part of me is remembering a Polak joke.

(Bad Larry. Bad.)

[Riggo-toni]

Any word on whether or not Ahmedinejad made it safely back?

[HeluCopter29]

Where's PETA when you need 'em?

[Spaceman Spiff]

Larry is posting from space?

[Barney B]

In space no one can hear you fling poo.

[sideshow24]

Since when is launching a monkey into space an indicator of how advanced a country's weapons have become?

[renaissance]

Since when is launching a monkey into space an indicator of how advanced a country's weapons have become?

1950?

[Koolblue13]

I would have felt bad for any monkey in Iran before reading this.

[sideshow24]

I think "launched a monkey into space" may just be my new favorite euphemism.

[Larry]

Since when is launching a monkey into space an indicator of how advanced a country's weapons have become?

1) Well, it is rocket science.

2) If they accomplished it (I will observe that as far as I know, nobody has actually confirmed that they did it), then I would assume that being able to AIM the thing, well enough to RECOVER the monkey, might well be the hardest part of the thing.

3) The article also points out that the ability to make a monkey container that can survive reentry, and can do so smoothly enough not to kill the monkey, is also rather a technical challenge.

If they did it.

I haven't seen, either, whether they claim that they supposedly launched the monkey around the Earth, so that it launched from Iran, circled the Earth, and then returned to Iran. Or if they simply launched the thing straight up, and then it fell straight down. I would ASSUME that the former is a lot harder to do. (Even though the former is still a long ways from actually putting something into orbit.)

[sideshow24]

. Or if they simply launched the thing straight up, and then it fell straight down.

I was thinking that this was the case.

[Dan T.]

Any word on whether or not Ahmedinejad made it safely back?

Since when is launching a monkey into space an indicator of how advanced a country's weapons have become?

1950?

Good jokes. Thanks for the laughs.

I think "launched a monkey into space" may just be my new favorite euphemism.

[Tulane Skins Fan]

[Mad Mike]

Since when is launching a monkey into space an indicator of how advanced a country's weapons have become?

Yeah because big giant rockets have never been used to deliver warheads.

[sideshow24]

Yeah because big giant rockets have never been used to deliver warheads.

So it can't be a big giant rocket until it proves capable of launching a monkey into space? Is the monkey equivalant to a warhead in these tests?