Iran’s Second Space Monkey Returns to Earth Safe

In a Saturday message, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hailed the mission to send a monkey, called “Fargam” or Auspicious, into space aboard Pajoheshan (Research) indigenous rocket as a success.

He praised the country’s scientists for their successful attempt to send the monkey into space and return the live simian back to earth safely, noting that it was the first time that a carrier running on liquid fuel carried out such a mission.

Fargam's capsule parachuted safely to earth after detaching from the rocket in a mission that lasted 15 minutes.

On January 28, the Islamic Republic of Iran sent a monkey into space aboard a locally made rocket called Pishgam (Pioneer), as a prelude to sending humans on space missions.

Also in 2010, Iran successfully sent a rat, turtle and worms into space.

At the time, the attempts had been touted as the first step towards sending a man into space, which Tehran says is scheduled for 2020.