Update: Iran Tried and Failed to Launch a Monkey Into Space Last Month

This morning, PopSci’s dedicated “space monkey” news feed lit up with some distressing news: When Iran indefinitely suspended its plans to launch a monkey into space earlier this month, it was actually because they had already tried and failed.

Iranian Deputy Science Minister Mohammad Mehdinejad-Nouri told state media that the Kavoshgar-5 rocket carrying a capsule with a live monkey launched during Shahrivar, which is the Iranian month spanning August 23 to September 22, but the launch was not publicized because it did not accomplish all of its mission objectives. Assuming one of the objectives was to safely carry the monkey to space and back, things don’t sound good for the monkey.