Iran Says It Sent Monkey Into Space and Back 425
Iranian state TV is claiming that the country has successfully sent a monkey into space and back, bringing Iran one step closer to its goal of a manned space flight. According to the report, the rocket named Pishgam, or Pioneer in Farsi, reached a height of 120km. From the article: "Iran has long said it seeks to send an astronaut into space as part of its ambitious aerospace program, including plans for a new space center announced last year. In 2010, Iran said it launched an Explorer rocket into space carrying a mouse, a turtle and worms."
Re:Stone age society develops space age technology (Score:4, Informative)
Depends on what you call "stone age society". They indeed have a lot to grow regarding individual freedom and rights (but, hey, so does USA currently) but they have lots of money, a great schools and universities, weath is well distributed and very low crime rate.
Re:Stone age society develops space age technology (Score:0, Informative)
>but they have lots of money, a great schools and universities, weath is well distributed and very low crime rate
If they have lots of money and it's well distributed, then it seems the people must just choose to live a lower standard of life than others, since the video that comes from Iran doesn't show me the sorts of things I'd expect from people who are rich (Lots of money + will distributed = everyone is generally rich).
As for great schools, perhaps they are, as long as you exclude science, philosophy, art, history, perhaps geography. Since they're state run (and the state bends the curriculum as they see fit), they are chock full of religion (which takes over the science, philosophy, and art departments) and since their government expresses blind hatred against other countries, I can only assume history and geography classes are equally skewed.
As for a low crime rate, isn't this the country that had hundreds of thousands of illegal protesters the other year? That's a HELL of a high crime rate, if you ask me!
Re:From a US citizen (Score:4, Informative)
No thing is bad. Doesn't matter how ugly you think an item is, it is inanimate. Inanimate objects are neither good, nor bad. Without motivation and free will, there is no good, no bad. People are bad, and people are good.
Re:I guess the propaganda is working. (Score:5, Informative)
You might be misunderstanding. Persians and Americans are actually natural allies: we both want a stable Persian Gulf region, and together could provide it, as we did prior to 1979.
You are aware that the CIA put the Iranian dictator into power in 1953 [wikipedia.org], toppling Iran's democratically-elected government in the process? The 1979 "Islamic Revolution" merely replaced a dictatorship controlled by the USA with one that wasn't.
Re:Pigs in space! (Score:4, Informative)
I have a friend who is only moderately stupid that firmly believes that the moon landings were faked.
I would submit to you that if your friend firmly believes that the moon landings were faked, he's far more than moderately stupid. With all the evidence, believing the moon landing was faked is right up there with believing that the moon is made of gouda cheese. There's a reflector on the moon. If you know the coordinates, you can actually bounce a laser off of it back to Earth.
Re:and apparently... (Score:3, Informative)
Jokes and media brain washing apart. The guy lives so much more humbly that its hard to think if he is as crazy as western media shows him or is there more going on. The country is making progress in spite of all the sanctions. Not sure if its the Iranian media spin but the guy sits and eats simple foods on a mat on the floor, sleeps on the floor.
I don't know which one is propaganda, this video or if the western media, or if there is a Jackal and Hyde going on here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyWul35JnjY [youtube.com]
Re:I guess the propaganda is working. (Score:5, Informative)
On top of that, you have the Iranians committing acts of war against the US in Iraq (not only supplying and training our enemies, but planning and sometimes participating directly in attacks) and in Saudi Arabia (Khobar Towers), as well as apparently developing a nuclear weapons program aimed directly at destroying a key US ally, Israel, and really, after all of that, does there need to be "propaganda" to explain why American attitudes towards the Iranian government are what they are?
Secretary of Defense William Perry (at the time), the FBI, and Saudi Minister of the Interior Prince Nayef disagree with you about Khobar. The indictment in the US district court looks like a long list of Saudi citizens, and but a few others.
As for "acts of war" in Iraq, the US plays the same game all the time, including the selling weapons to Iranian enemies, e.g. Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War. This kind of turnaround is only fair play.
You are clearly demonstrating the power American propaganda has over minds who should know better. It is very "interesting" how selective your memory happens to be.
Re:They risked a valuable Monkey? (Score:2, Informative)
Over 50% of higher education students in Iran are women. This is a known fact even in the western media.
Re:From a US citizen (Score:4, Informative)
Only 6 countries have that capability. No matter how much you troll.