Sky News ^[1]
Feb 4, 2013

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has revealed his dream to be his country’s first astronaut.

He said he was willing to sacrifice his life for Iran’s space programme, which aims to send a man into space by 2020 and put an astronaut on the moon by 2025.

“I’m ready to be the first Iranian to be sacrificed by the scientists of my country and go into space, even though I know there are a lot of candidates,” state news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.

Speaking at a ceremony to unveil two new satellites, Mr Ahmadinejad added that he was willing to “auction (himself) and donate” the money to the space programme, which has been hit by international economic sanctions over Tehran’s controversial nuclear drive.

Full article here ^[1]