Iranian Space Agency Confirms No Animals Used in Capsule Launch; PETA Pledges to Keep Watch

Iranian Space Agency Confirms No Animals Used in Capsule Launch; PETA Pledges to Keep Watch

London – Following outreach from PETA US urging it to end the use of animals in its space programme, the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) confirmed in a letter that “no real animals were used” during its space capsule launch on 6 December and that it instead opted for humane “simulation kits and sensors … to gather the necessary data”. PETA is applauding this step forward – but vows to keep tabs on the agency until it bans the use of animals completely.

A monkey previously launched into space by the ISA. Credit: PETA US

“The ISA put itself on the right side of history by sparing vulnerable animals a confusing, terrifying, and potentially deadly trip into space,” says PETA Senior Science Policy Manager Dr Julia Baines. “PETA applauds this compassionate move and continues to encourage the ISA to use only modern, animal-free technology in all its future endeavours.”

The ISA has a well-documented history of exploiting animals in space-exploration efforts, including launching into orbit a terrified monkey who was crudely strapped into a restraint device in 2013. The agency has also used monkeys, rodents, turtles, and worms in previous space missions. Following PETA entity campaigns, NASA and the European Space Agency ended space experiments on monkeys. The agencies have acknowledged that results from these experiments weren’t relevant to human astronauts.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), or Instagram.

Contact:

Lucy Watson +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

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