Another photo was said to show a ‘backup monkey’ 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 .According to international media, Mohammad Ebrahimi claimed the rocket took the ape -- known as Pioneer, or “Pishgam” in Farsi -- 120 kilometres into Space, before landing safely on Earth 20 minutes later.
A Defence Ministry statement quoted by Iranian media at the time claimed Iran had "successfully launched a capsule, codenamed Pishgam [Pioneer], containing a monkey and recovered the shipment on the ground intact."
It did not give details on the timing or location of the launch.
Ebrahimi said on Saturday that photos of two different monkeys were released by the Iranian media. One was an archive photo of a backup monkey.
A previous attempt in 2011 by the Islamic Republic to put a monkey into Space failed. No official explanation was ever given.
However, Iranian officials celebrated their “big step” by successfully launching the ape into the atmosphere in January.
"This success is the first step towards man conquering Space and it paves the way for other moves," Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said last week.
Iran says it is working toward manned space flight. The US and its allies worry that the technology could also be used to develop long-range missiles.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has indicated on several occasions Iranian scientists’ intention to launch an astronaut for "observation" purposes.