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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.

8 of 107 comments (clear)

  1. Re:As long as... by Rei · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

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    What the hells goin on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?
  2. Re:Shouldn't that be iranian cosmonauts? by ventsyv · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Cosmonaut and astronaut are synonyms. Cosmo is of Greek origin and means "world" or "universe", and in Russian it means, space, thus "cosmonaut" is someone who has been in space. Astro comes from Greek as well but it means "star". Astronaut is a term that comes from French and literally means someone who has been to the stars (the French being more poetic here). So it doesn't matter what you call it, the two words can be used interchangeably, but for some reason US media seems to call Americans astronauts and Russians cosmonauts. Maybe a remnant from the space race?

  3. This is GOOD. Not BAD. by skaag · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People need to understand that a more technologically advanced Iran means the world will deal with a more advanced country, and a more advanced government, period. Iran has a lot of extremely smart people who's voices are not heard because they are drowned by the voices of the mentally insane.

    The sooner Iran values knowledge and science more than it values blind belief in fairy tales, the better for the rest of the world.

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    All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain... time... to... die...

  4. Probably not really a big deal at all by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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?"

  5. Re:And the bad news? by WaffleMonster · · Score: 4, Informative

    First Iranian in space?
    Hmm.....First suicide bomber in space?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  6. Sounds like good news really by DarthVain · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  7. Re:Infidels by AHuxley · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Iran recalls the US and UK support for Operation Ajax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
    Iran also recalls US support for the Iraqi invasion of Iran in 1980 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...–Iraq_War
    ie the mischiefs of foreign intrigue.
    As far as the astronaut part goes, the Soviet Union and Russia offered places to a lot of other nations.
    List of cosmonauts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... has a list of other "Other cosmonauts" from different nations.
    Also see the Intercosmos program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

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    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  8. Re: And the bad news? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 3, Insightful
    --
    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap