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Russia Forming Space Alliance With Iran, May Fly Iranian Astronaut (examiner.com)
MarkWhittington writes: Quietly, the Russians appear to be forming a space alliance with the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to a story in Sputnik. Not only is Russia in talks to launch Iranian satellites on Russian rockets but also to include an Iranian astronaut on a future space mission. What that space mission might be is open to question. A visit by an Iranian astronaut to the International Space Station would likely kick up a political firestorm with the United States, even though the Obama administration is attempting to develop a rapprochement with the Islamic Republic.
Actually, NASA does have a detailed contingency plan for dealing with "rogue elements" in space: bind the subject's wrists and ankles with duct tape, tie them down with a bungee cord, and if needed, inject them with tranquilizers, all the while trying to calm them down verbally, explaining what you're doing and why you need to do it.
It sounds kind of funny that they'd take the time to make such a plan, but it was created in case an astronaut for some reason or another goes crazy while in orbit. It's also allowed for if an astronaut is trying to commit suicide.
What the hells goin on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?
As an American, believe me when I tell you that our government and most of our country (except for a few crazy right wingers) would love for Iran-US relations to improve at least to where each country doesn't cause the other one problems. In fact, I believe that the USA and Iran will one day again be great friends. Whether that is 10 years, 20 years or 50 years from now remains to be seen. But for reasons I won't go into less it digress into a pointless political discussion that never ends, it seems pretty inevitable for me. Just like if you find the average American under 60 years old probably has a very positive opinion of Japan but old people who lived through World War II may still carry some grudges, with time the older generation that hates the other side will die out and the younger generation will reap the benefits of friendship. I don't think having an Iranian on the ISS would be a big deal and if it leads to less tension between the 2 countries, I say "How quickly can we make this happen?"
I'm sure we all remember the hilarious Iran Photoshop of their missile program. Having Iran dependent on Russia for satellite launches means they have one less reason to try to advance their own rocketry science. If all it takes is a token Iranian photo-op on the ISS then that is a pretty cheap win. With oil in the toilet Russia could probably use the currency also, and a stable Russia is probably a good thing.