One of two official sets of photos of Iran's
famed simian space traveller depicted the
wrong monkey, but a primate really did fly into
space and return safely to Earth, a senior
Iranian space official has said.
The two different monkeys shown in the
photos released by Iran's state media caused
some international observers to wonder
whether the monkey had died in space or that
the launch did not go well.
One set of pictures showed a relatively dark-
haired monkey. Another showed a different
monkey - strapped in a pod - that had light
grey hair and a distinctive red mole over its
right eye.
The photos stirred questions on the internet,
with people joking on Facebook that the
monkey "went into space and met a doctor
who removed its mole," an ironic reference to
some Iranians passion for cosmetic surgery.
'Archive photo'
Mohammad Ebrahimi told the The Associated
Press news agency that the monkey who
travelled in space was named "Pishgam," the
Farsi word for pioneer.
Ebrahimi said one set of pictures showed an
archive photo of one of the alternate monkeys.
He said three to five monkeys are
simultaneously tested for such a flight and two
or three are chosen for the launch.
Finally, the one that is best suited for the
mission and is not stressed is chosen for the
voyage.
State TV pictures seen by AP show the dark-
haired monkey before and after the space
flight, but a package of still pictures released by
authorities showed the other monkey with the
mole.
"I say this with certainty that the monkey is in
good health and the space flight didn't have
any physical effect on Pishgam," Ebrahimi said.
"Some of the photos released by one of news
agencies were not related to the time of flight.
They were archive photos of the monkeys
being prepared for the launch."
Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who
tracks rocket launchings and space activity, also
said this week's monkey space flight was real,
but he had a slightly different explanation for
the photo mix-up.
He claimed the light grey monkey with the
mole died during a failed space mission in 2011.
"The monkey with the mole was the one
launched in 2011 that died. The rocket failed. It
did not get into space," McDowell said. "They
just mixed that footage with the footage of the
2013 successful launch."
Iran has never confirmed that a monkey died
in 2011, or that there was a failed mission that
year.