Monkeys Take Hollywood

When Iran announced plans to launch a monkey into space this summer aboard its Kavoshgar-5 rocket, plenty of people were displeased. Western powers worried that the launch hinted at military intentions, including a possible nuclear threat, but the nation has denied the allegations. Last year, Iran sent a rat, turtles, and worms into space, but the monkey will be their first large animal—a crucial step toward sending a man to space by 2020, their stated goal. Something tells us this will be nothing like Space Chimps and more like Baker, the one-pound American monkey (pictured here), who rode that capsule into space and back in May 1959.