The rocket launch was seen by many on Iranian state television and the Iranian national anthem was played alongside the footage.
“We debated whether the monkey should come back to earth, but it was finally decided that it would be cruel to just shoot it into space with no return,” Ahmed Dinajaket, one of the engineers on the project revealed.
The monkey was said to have returned ‘intact’, an achievement the Iranians celebrated as an advance in a missile and space programme that has given the West and Israel cause for concern.
The monkey was said to have been sent up in a Kavoshgar rocket that climbed to a height of more than 75 miles before returning.
