Monkey business a flight of fancy? February 4, 2013 Above left, the 'archive' image; and, above right, after flight (or surgery). IRAN'S announcement that it had successfully sent a monkey into space has stirred questions on the internet, with people pointing to differences between official images of the primate before take-off and after landing. On January 28, official Iranian media published pictures of a monkey named Pishgam (Pioneer) before the launch. The animal had light grey fur and a red mole above its right eye. But later, the ISNA news agency released photos taken after the landing that showed a monkey with darker fur and no mole. These differences have been pointed out by Western media, which have questioned the success of the monkey space mission. A previous attempt to send a primate into space failed in 2011. On Facebook, a comment underneath the monkey's pictures reads: the monkey "went into space and met a doctor who removed its mole"; an ironic reference to the passion of some Iranians for cosmetic surgery. Two websites close to the regime, Rajanews and Nasimonline, said the monkey images available to the media before the launch were "archive" images of the 2011 launch. The monkey presented to the press after the sub-orbital flight was the one that completed the mission, they claimed.