Ahmadinejad wants to be Iran’s first astronaut
An Iranian technician holds a monkey after reportedly riding an Iranian rocket into space, in Tehran, Iran. ISNA, Borna Ghasemi/AP
His announcement comes after the country claimed to have successfully launched a monkey into space.
What monkey? Unfazed by questions about whether his country's space monkey mission was staged, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is pretty gung ho about being his country's first man sent to space. "I am ready to be the first human to be sent to space by Iranian scientists," Ahmadinejad said on Monday at an exhibition about Iran's space program.
"Sending living things into space is the result of Iranian efforts and the dedication of thousands of Iranian scientists," Ahmadinejad said Monday. But we still aren't completely sure Iran has sent a living thing to space successfully. Last week, Iran started bragging to anyone and everyone who would listen about how they sent a monkey to space and, unlike a prior attempt, the simian lived to tell the tale. And we listened because monkeys in space are hilarious. But then we were shocked! to learn that, hmmm, maybe Iran didn't send a monkey to space. Some enterprising experts noticed the before-and-after launch pictures don't look like the same monkey.
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