Animals in Space

While NASA is in a race with itself to send humans to live on Mars, let’s consider the fact that before any human got the title of an astronaut, animals had been sent into space to check if life actually could survive the harsh extremes found there.

In the year 1947 the nose of a V2 rocket captured by the Nazis became famous when it was launched to 109 km altitude with a bunch of fruit flies. The capsule ejected and the insects were safely returned to Earth guided down by a parachute. These were the first living creatures from the planet to enter space.

The Russians made history in 1957 with Laika. She was the first dog in outer space that orbited the Earth. Unfortunately Laika was also the first dog to die in space. However the record for being at the highest altitude lies with Veterok and Ugolyok, the dogs who were in Kosmos 110 spacecraft in 1966.

The first monkey in space was Albert II who was killed on impact when the V2 rocket’s parachute failed to deploy. He was a rhesus monkey. In 1959 the primates that created the altitude record were Able and Baker. They were rhesus and squirrel monkeys.

Three months before Apollo 8 was launched in 1968 the Russians sent the spacecraft Zond 5 on a seven day journey around the moon. Onboard were two tortoises, some flies, worms, and bacteria. They returned safely back to the Earth. It would be interesting to see what new science projects involve animals in outer space.