Friday, February 1, 2013

Is Iran's Space Monkey a Fake?


Iran's triumphant venture of sending a monkey into space may have been exposed as a fake, a report by The Telegraph based on photographs suggests.

Before the launch, state-run media posted photographs of the monkey with a distinctive red mole above its right eye. It also had light fur round its head. Upon the monkey's return from space, the mole had vanished, as had the fur.

The discrepancies in the photographs have led to speculation that either they launched the capsule into space, but it never returned, or that the launch never took place, The Telegraph reports.

To read the Telegraph’s article, please click here.


UPDATE: Mohammad Ebrahimi, an official with Iran’s space agency, told AP that the photos of a returning monkey, released by the country’s official and semi-official news agencies, were not related to the actual space fight. (AP, 2 February)

Ebrahimi insisted that the monkey “Pishgam” (“Avant Guard”) was sent into orbit and returned safely.  Iranian news agencies have not yet released an explanation of why a wrong monkey was pictured as returning from the voyage.

Photo credit: Iran space monkey (The Telegraph)  

22 comments:

Mark Pyruz said...

Nader, the Telegraph is notoriously unreliable where it concerns Iran reporting. They were the ones reporting that Khamanei was on his deathbed--back in '07!

Between reporting on the ravings of that Turk that shot the Pope (who obviously was seeking attention, and not the first time) and now this, the blog is starting to resemble the National Enquirer. lol

Anonymous said...

you do realise there were several monkeys trained as photographs show, side by side

so the picture could be of any of the monkeys

the monkey that was launched was was clearly the one that was retrieved with video of parachute and so on

the daily telegraph is not a good source period on anything to do with Iran, there main correspondent on foreign affairs is serial liar con coughlin on iran issues

Anonymous said...

Jeap everythibg fake or Hassod ziyad hast

look here the Launch Movie with the monkey

http://isna.ir/fa/news/91111307280/با-نخستین-میمون-فضانورد-ایرانی-در-ویدئوی

Nader Uskowi said...

the Telegraph is one among many carrying the story. What does your own research show? The Monkey was for real? What are the discrepancies in the photos published by Iranian state-run media, not the Telegraph?

It's becoming a routine for pro-regime commentators to shoot the messenger in the hope of changing the conversation. This is the question here: state-run media have published photos of the monkey before and after his journey to space. There seems to be serious discrepancies in the photos, before and after, at least for a non-specialist. Why? The conversation about the Telegraph is immaterial here, only serves the purpose of deflecting the main conversation from the issue at hand.

Unfortunately, for you, the old tactic of attacking the messenger and throwing insults at the writer, as in the reference to the National Enquirer, to discount the credibility of the piece, do not discourage this lowly blogger.

Nader Uskowi said...

The discrepancies in the photos before and after the launch are striking. Many new agencies, like Reuters, AP and AFP, and publications like The Atlantic Wire, The Times (of London), Huffington Post and others have carried the story in the past hour or so. Iran needs to come up with a quick and thorough explanation, and soon.

Nader Uskowi said...

Of course we saw the video. But the monkey in that video is not the same as the one reportedly returned to earth. Why? Did the rocket never returned to earth? Was everything a fake? Did they mistake the returning monkey with another one (which is highly unlikely), etc. Answers are required.

Anonymous said...

I donot know which Monkey comes back and which does not
I am not monkey Identifikation Spzialist
The Next Time in 10 Years Iran should send a Human and you can ask him.

Anonymous said...

The missile used was a modified Fateh 110 and the warhead is a bit small to accommodate the monkey as well as the life support system together.The only possible way to send the monkey into low earth orbit is without the bulky life support system.If the monkey was sent into low earth orbit,it would not survive without oxygen therefore the monkey you see in the picture could be the one that remained on earth.
Now if it was one of their Shahab 3 missiles modified for this purpose it would be more believable.
Lets wait and see.

Nader Uskowi said...

There are this or that monkey. There was only a single monkey that was reportedly sent into the low orbit. And supposedly that very same monkey came back to earth. The problem is these monkey do not look the same! I doubt if space travel could have changed the poor monkey that much.

The story is not about monkeys, but about how truthful the Iranian authorities are. The minister of defense personally announced that the monkey was sent to the orbit and came back alive. True? We don't know yet, but hope Iran would supply the answers soon.

Anonymous said...

Whenever is any positive event for the Islamic Republic, authors and their proxies or "puppets" (operated by the authors?) use to saw doubts about that or even call it a fake, supporting their claim that someone with that or other name (from the West) said so...

When the Islamic Republic cought recently US drone, president Uskowi had posted an article about that, but his conclusion was that because the US command denied that, that it had lost a drone at that time, so Mr. Uskowi stated something that at this time we cannot confirm authenticity of that information - from the official Iranian agency; (- because Americans said so otherwise) and we have to wait for a further development (information)..

When "further" information emerged that it was indeed the American drone, there were no sufficient apology and follow up information from the authors...

Couple days ago, when was the first post about that monkey on this blog, another "proxie" questioned that there is no proof that the event ever happened and Mat had posted in response an address of the link to a video from the monkey's launching event...

My point is, why the authors urge Iran to come to terms with the West, and take its most of fake allegations seriously (without doubts), when it was proven by claims of the WMD in Iraq and the Tonkin Gulf incidents that they were faked ones...
There is another issue that the West uses double standards at any opportunity...and its blog symphatizers don't feel any doubts about information from that side, instead they preach to come to the terms with the...(liars).

A-F

Anonymous said...

They tortured the poor non-consenting animal in a G-force machine prior to launch only to send it into space with no hope of ever returning back to earth. That monkey is dead, and they lied to us.

Nader Uskowi said...

There we go again! Do you have anything to say about the subject of this conversation, or you see yourself obliged to deflect the conversation away from the subject here? Did the monkey ever made it into the space? Did it ever returned to Earth alive? Why the photo of the returning monkey shown by Iran's official news agency is different from that of the space monkey? I am sure Iran will announce its answer soon, but this is the issue of this post. Trying to deflect the conversation away from the subject, as smart a tactic that it might seem to you, does't work here, sorry!

Nader Uskowi said...

An anonymous commentator (Anon 9:27 PM) had sent a comment containing the following link, claimed to show that there were not two monkeys, but one and the same: http://www.iranmilitaryforum.net/space-technology-and-news/preparations-for-sending-the-monkey-in-space/msg169341/#new

The commentator thought that he could also throw insult at commentators who did not agree with his worldview. That's not the way to keep a civilized conversation on any subject.

As I have said in my comments here, time has come for the Iranian government to explain this episode fully. I, as one, see myself deserving of such explanation because I was one of the very first bloggers to publicize sending the monkey to space, and a number of commentators congratulated Iran for achieving such a feat. If something is amiss, being a simple mistake by photographers, or a stupid coverup of a story gone bad, the people who follow Iran developments deserve to know.

B.M.A said...

I Think Anon:20:9pm has attempted to give a more logical response to the whole issue!.BUT THERE IS A WIDE DEFERENCE b/tween wanting to know the whole truth and wishing that the whole project did not materialize!.NOW MR USOWI before you place the pistol on the head of the regime !-DID YOU APPRECIATE THE EFFORT? DID YOU OFFER SOME CONGRATULATION,DID YOU APPRECIATE THE REGIMES EFFORTS IN MASTERING SPACE TECHNOLOGY and are yo okay with the regime investing in that area?.

mind you the daily telegraph did not appreciate the effort in the first place!.

mat said...

See IRAN's new Qaher 313 fighter jet:

presstv.com/detail/2013/02/02/286841/iran-unveils-new...


Anonymous said...

yes they have to give people calification who despise the government so much they will be against anything good coming out of there

this simply a photographers mistake from one agency who often use stock photos

all the others carry the videos which clearly depict a monkey wearing the same black outfit with no mole being placed inside and then going up until you can see the debris floating inside when the rocket hits zero gravity as the rocket feed from outside and inside both show, then coming down with parachute, then being retrieved

i suspect the reason the journalist made the mistake was the monkey that was sent had no stock photographs taken of it just videos while the other monkey had photos taken of it

people are saying that monkey with mole was the old monkey which failed in 2011 though of course multiple monkeys were trained as the photos show

tubtuilayka said...

This has been explaine time and time again, that it was a journalist mistake from the press tv who normally work with stock photos. Why, if Iran wanted to lie, no any intelligent measures were taken as to conceal the identity of the monkey? Do you think Iranians are such stupid, after all this? You may think of having a brain surgery!

mat said...

A senior Iranian space official says one of two official photos of its famed simian space traveler depicted the wrong monkey, but that the primate really did fly up into orbit and return safely.

Mohammad Ebrahimi also told the The Associated Press the monkey's name: Pishgam, or Pioneer in Farsi. The Iranian media originally said that the "Pishgam" was the rocket which reportedly took him Monday into space and returned him to earth after 20 minutes.

Ebrahimi said Saturday that photos of two different monkeys were released by the Iranian media. One was an archive photo of a backup monkey.

Anonymous said...

Nader - STOP rubbishing and creating confusion about every IRANIAN development. Its a Shame.

AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION - SOME OF THE PICTURES OF THE MONKEY ARE FROM THE UNSUCCESSFUL LAUNCH IN 2011. So do away with your confusion a.k.a conspiracies.

Even the Zionists accepted the successful launch.

PERIOD.

Anonymous said...

After your recent insulting remarks to me and Uskowi deleting it,did you have your brain surgery ?

Anonymous said...

In response to pres. Uskowi's February 1, 2013 reply (at 6:37PM), I would like to point that your accusation that my post deflects conversations away and creates problems is not fair because I not perpetuate your or someone's (double) standards.

To my best knowledge as an owner of this blog you have got an influence over what is posted here and in addition you had mentioned in one of your past articles, that you are here "to educate students..." on this blog.

To your reply that I try to deflect conversation (by bringing not related issues?) I have to state that your staff and "proxies" had felt free to post descriptions such as "stupid Russians" "stupid Iranians" and other characterizations with slurs to my or other commentators posts, that were not related to the subjects.. Nobody admonished them and that matter was somehow tolerated on this blog for several months. Those atacks were very frequent and apparently designed to deflect attention and to attempt character's assasination...

Like I have noticed the format of changes on this blog were designed (by my opinion) to hide those previous practices from the public view by removing convenient accesability to the past articles and removing the "Recent comment section", so most viewers will not see who added any recent comments which could be also related to the past articles...

I myself post my comments on recent articles where I try to remind you about ommisions and manipulations of information, where you are going to achieve your propaganda's goals.

It looks like you want to show part of a picture to the public and use the full title which was assigned to the whole picture.
Among many examples are Gen. Firouzabadi's comments about Patriot missiles in Turkey and example that the Rial plunges to the certain levels. In the case of the Rial's plunge, Mark tried to reply to your article that you cite only part of issue and don't see a full horizon of the issue.

A-F

P.S. I have seen on the Internet, that you use a title of the president in some places, therefore I use that your title from time to time, since I discovered your preferences and tactics...

Anonymous said...

A-F,you seem to cuddle up to Firouzabadi too often.Why is that,lol?!