An Iranian Menagerie

I remember placing a jumping spider into the payload section of a model rocket and launching it into the sky when I was about 13. The spider didn't prepare well for the journey, clinging upside down on the bottom side of the nose cone. Sadly, the acceleration killed it.

I hope the Iranian animals made a safe trip.:

Iran announced Wednesday it has successfully launched a research rocket carrying a mouse, two turtles and worms into space -- a feat President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said showed Iran could defeat the West in the battle of technology.

Ahmadinejad also unveiled the model of a light booster rocket that is being built and three new, Iranian-built satellites, touted as the latest in the country's ambitious space program.

The launch of the rocket Kavoshgar-3, which means Explorer-3 in Farsi, was announced by Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi to mark the National Day of Space Technology. It comes a year after Iran sent its first domestically made telecommunications satellite, called Omid, or Hope, into orbit for 40 days.