Research: Animals in Space

Before humans actually went into space, one of the prevailing theories of the perils of space flight was that humans might not be able to survive long periods of weightlessness. For several years, there had been a serious debate among scientists about the effects of prolonged weightlessness. American and Russian scientists utilized animals - mainly monkeys, chimps and dogs - in order to test each country's ability to launch a living organism into space and bring it back alive and unharmed.

Before any human ever went into orbit went Laika the space dog. She launched aboard the Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 in November, 1957. Laika and two other dogs trained on land for space travel by living in contained environments and learning to eat nutrient-rich gel — the food that they (and later humans) would eat in space. According to Russian reports, Laika lived for one week aboard the spacecraft before she died.  These reports encouraged scientists and government leaders about the viability of sending humans into space.

Sam was one of the most famous monkeys of the space program. He launched on December 4, 1959 in a cylindrical capsule on the Mercury spacecraft atop a Little Joe rocket — his mission: to test the launch escape system. After one minute of flight, the Mercury capsule separated from the launch vehicle sending Sam to an altitude of 51 miles before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean. Sam was safely recovered several hours later and returned to the colony where he lived and trained prior to his orbital adventures. He would live there for more than 20 more years until 1982.

While the Russians sent dogs into orbit during early animal-space research, Americans chose to send chimpanzees instead because of the close similarities that they share with human beings. Observations made during these missions would allow greater understanding of how humans might react physically and psychologically to life in microgravity and upon return. Ham experienced nearly seven minutes of weightlessness during a 16-minute flight. He returned fatigued and dehydrated but otherwise in good shape. Ham’s journey to space was considered a great success because he made it home safely, unlike his Russian counterpart, Laika the space dog. His mission paved the way for the successful launch of America’s first human astronaut, Alan B. Shepard, Jr. in May, 1961.

In October 1963, French scientists launched into space a cat for the first time in history, their goal was to better understand launch and reentry conditions. Felix was selected, tested, trained and conditioned, only to escape prior to launch. After Felix escaped, he was replaced with Félicette (Félicette is the feminine of Felix). She launched on the French Véronique AG1 rocket from Algerian Sahara desert rocket base, experienced a 15 minute flight to an altitude of 130 miles and returned safely to Earth with a successful parachute drop.