Iran Launches Rat and Worms into Space
Friday, February 05, 2010

While not exactly a Sputnik moment, Iran’s launching of a rocket into space this week nonetheless prompted similar worries for U.S. officials who shuddered at the Soviet entry into the space race back in the 1950s. With the launching of its 10-foot Kavoshgar-3 rocket, Washington fears the event signals Iran is getting closer to possessing intercontinental ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons someday.
Iranian officials hailed the experiment, which involved sending a rat, two turtles and several worms briefly into space, before the rocket parachuted back to earth. The Iranian Students News Agency reported the test subjects returned safely, while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proclaimed the test showed his country could defeat the West in the battle of technology. Ahmadinejad also announced that Iran is developing a light booster rocket and three new satellites.
James Lewis, senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the purpose of the launch was military and political in nature. “Worms in space serve no purpose,” Lewis told the Associated Press, adding that if the Iranians were interested in testing their life-support system, they would have sent up a monkey.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Iran Sends Rocket with Animal Menagerie into Space (by Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press)
Iranian Research Rocket Carries Animals into Space (by Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post)
Iran Launches Spacecraft Carrying Animals (Tehran Times)
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