A gray monkey has boldly gone where no Iranian simian has ever gone before — 75 miles into space, state media said.
The monkey, wearing a protective vest and strapped in a pod resembling an infant’s car seat, soared in a rocket dubbed Pioneer in what Tehran called “another giant step” in its space technology.
“Iran is on its way to send a man into space,” Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said yesterday in announcing the flight. “This shipment returned safely to Earth . . . along with the live organism.”
The Iranians are still lagging — say, by about 60 years — behind the first American space monkeys.
Earlier this month, the director of Iran’s space agency, Hamid Fazeli, said Iran wanted to launch its first manned space mission within five years.
The Iranians did not disclose the monkey’s name.
The United States said a suborbital simian was “a serious concern.”