A long-range rocket on an Iranian launch pad.
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The broader implications are murky as well. Iran looking to develop a manned space program is, at surface value, not shocking in the least. As space becomes privatized and more accessible, it really is the next realm of diplomacy, even if we're only talking about arguments over orbit and the Moon, versus full-on Intergalactic Congress type stuff. Iran's likely not going to get into some Moonraker-style space piracy, but having a serious space program helps the country stay relevant on the world stage.More importantly to Western observers, Iran's mature missile technology is worrisome if you replace that monkey with a nuclear payload. Iran doesn't have nuclear capabilities yet, but diplomatic talks have still gone nowhere, and Iran's launch definitely turns up the heat at the negotiating table.Also, North Korea does have nukes. Each new missile report suggests that Tehran and Pyongyang are sharing a healthy flow of ideas (their buddy-buddy status quite likely born out of their reps as the bad guys) about long-range missiles. There's no evidence yet that the country's nuclear scientists are working together–and for Iran, it's more of an issue of enriching uranium than figuring out how to build a bomb–but trading ideas about missiles is more worrisome than trading tech for solar panels, even if both countries are officially just working on their space programs.Yet even that has its own issues: Until now space hasn't been a particularly crowded space, satellites aside, and the countries sending astronauts to orbit have all been cooperative with each other. What happens if a pariah like Iran starts sending astros into space? Should the West do anything about it? And what could, say, the UN do anyway? If anything, Iran's monkey launch shows that the space age is maturing, and we're rapidly approaching the time when space diplomacy is legitimately needed.@derektmeadThe Iranian astronaut monkey. twitter.com/MahirZeynalov/…
— Mahir Zeynalov (@MahirZeynalov) January 28, 2013