Rattlesnake Ridge      

 
      BFF

““Il n’est pas possible de donner une date pour la réalisation de ce projet. Dès que nos scientifiques annonceront qu’ils sont prêts, nous le ferons savoir”, a déclaré le responsable de l’organisation spatiale iranienne, Hamid Fazeli, cité par le site internet de la télévision d’Etat. Hamid Fazeli n’a pas donné d’explication sur l’ajournement de ce projet. Le responsable avait annoncé en juin que l’Iran allait envoyer un singe dans l’espace en août, à bord d’une capsule de 285 kilos portée par une fusée Kavoshghar-5, dernière version du lanceur déjà utilisé en 2010 pour envoyer dans l’espace une petite capsule contenant un rat, des tortues et des insects…………”

Sending one a monkey into space is only bound by technical issues, and maybe some simian-itarian (as in human-itarian) considerations. Now sending a human requires other considerations, especially for the Iranians. I recall when NASA sent a Saudi prince into space with one of its teams he returned professing puzzlement about one main issue: he could not tell which way to face for prayer; he could not tell where Mecca was located from space. I would not have had any problem locating where Mecca was: it is exactly where it has always been, on the big blue marble. Even a spaced out prince should be able to see that.
Now the Iranians may face another thorny issue as well, in addition to the Mecca direction. Will they or will they not send a cleric, a mullah, out into space (with the human astronaut)? In that case, why not train a cleric for the mission and launch him? Then there will be the thorny issue of the cleric being accused, like that Saudi prince, of being spaced out.
Cheers
mhg


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