The first animals to fly into space: Tailed conquerors of the Universe. What animals have been to space? What living creatures have been to space

Dogs Belka and Strelka. After the flight of the dog Laika in 1957, which did not return to Earth (more about her will be discussed later), it was decided to send the dogs on a daily orbital flight with the possibility of returning to Earth in a descent module. For the space flight, it was necessary to select dogs with a light color (so they are better visible on the monitors of observation devices), whose weight does not exceed 6 kg, and whose height is 35 cm, and they must be female (it is easier for them to develop a device for relieving themselves ). And besides, the dogs had to be attractive, because perhaps they would be featured in the media. We met all these parameters mongrel dogs Belka and Strelka. As part of the preparation of these animals for flight, they were taught to eat jelly-like food, which was designed to meet the need for water and nutrition on board the ship. And the most difficult thing was to teach the dogs to conduct long time in a small cramped container in an isolated and noisy environment. To do this, Belka and Strelka were kept for eight days in a metal box comparable in size to the container of the descent module. On last stage During training, the dogs were tested on a vibration stand and a centrifuge. Two hours before the launch of Sputnik 5, which occurred on August 19, 1960 at 11:44 Moscow time, a cabin with dogs was placed in the spacecraft. And as soon as it took off and began to gain altitude, the animals experienced very rapid breathing and pulse. The stress stopped only after Sputnik 5 took off. And although most of the flight the animals behaved quite calmly, during the fourth orbit around the Earth, the Squirrel began to fight and bark, trying to remove the belts. She felt sick. Subsequently, after analyzing this condition of the dog, scientists decided to limit human space flight to one orbit around the Earth. Belka and Strelka completed 17 complete orbits in approximately 25 hours, covering a distance of 700 thousand km. It is also worth noting that Belka and Strelka were stand-ins for the dogs Chaika and Chanterelle, who died during the launch spaceship type "Vostok 1K No. 1" July 28, 1960. Then the rocket fell to the ground and exploded at 38 seconds. Laika dog. The very first animal launched into Earth orbit was the Soviet dog Laika. Although there were two more contenders for this flight - stray dogs Mukha and Albina, who had already made a couple of suborbital flights earlier. But scientists felt sorry for Albina, because she was expecting offspring, and the upcoming flight did not involve the astronaut returning to Earth. This was technically impossible. So, the choice fell on Laika. During training, she spent a long time in a mock-up container, and just before the flight she underwent surgery: breathing and pulse sensors were implanted. A few hours before the flight, which took place on November 3, 1957, the container with Laika was placed on the ship. At first she had a rapid pulse, but it recovered almost to normal values when the dog was in zero gravity. And 5-7 hours after the launch, having completed 4 orbits around the Earth, the dog died from stress and overheating, although it was expected that she would live for about a week. There is a version that death occurred due to an error in calculating the satellite's area and the lack of a thermal control system (during the flight the temperature in the room reached 40°C). And also in 2002, an opinion appeared that the death of the dog occurred as a result of the oxygen supply being cut off. One way or another, the animal died. After this, the satellite made another 2,370 orbits around the Earth and burned up in the atmosphere on April 14, 1958. However, after the failed flight, a number of more tests were carried out with similar conditions on Earth, since a special commission from the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers did not believe in the existence of a design error. As a result of these tests, two more dogs died. The death of Laika was not announced ahead of schedule for a long time in the USSR, transmitting data on the well-being of the already dead animal. The media reported his death only a week after the dog was launched into space: it was said that Laika had been euthanized. But, of course, they learned about the true causes of the animal’s death much later. And when this happened, it sparked unprecedented criticism from animal rights activists. Western countries. Many letters came from them expressing protest against the cruel treatment of animals, and there were even sarcastic proposals to send the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee N.S. Khrushchev into space instead of dogs. The famous newspaper The New York Times, in its issue of November 5, 1957, called Laika “the shaggiest, loneliest and most unfortunate dog in the world.” Monkeys Able and Miss Baker. Before humans started going into space, several animals were sent there, including monkeys. The Soviet Union and Russia sent monkeys into space from 1983 to 1996, the United States from 1948 to 1985, and France sent two monkeys in 1967. In total, about 30 monkeys have taken part in space programs, and none of them has flown into space more than once. On early stage development of space flights, mortality among monkeys was extremely high. For example, in the United States, more than half of the animals involved in launches from 1940 to 1950 died during the flights or shortly after them. The first monkeys to survive flight were Able the rhesus monkey and Miss Baker the squirrel monkey. All previous space flights with monkeys on board ended in the death of the animals from suffocation or failure of the parachute system. Able was born at the Kansas Zoo (USA), and Miss Baker was purchased at a pet store in Miami, Florida. Both were delivered to medical School Naval Aviation in Pensacola (USA). After training, in the early morning of May 28, 1959, the monkeys were sent into space aboard a Jupiter AM-18 rocket from Cape Canaveral. They rose to an altitude of 480 km and flew for 16 minutes, nine minutes of which they were in zero gravity. The flight speed exceeded 16,000 km/h. During the flight, Able had high blood pressure and rapid breathing, and three days after the successful landing, the monkey died during the removal of the electrodes implanted in its body: it could not bear the anesthesia. Sensors were implanted into the brain, muscles and tendons to record movement activity during flight. Miss Baker died on November 29, 1984 at the age of 27. renal failure. She has reached the maximum age for her species. Able's stuffed animal is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. And Miss Baker is buried on the territory of the US Space and Rocket Center in Hunstville (Alabama). On her tombstone there is always her favorite delicacy - several bananas. Dog Zvezdochka. 18 days before Yuri Gagarin's flight, the USSR sent Sputnik 10 into space with the dog Zvezdochka on board. This single-orbit flight took place on March 25, 1961. In addition to the dog, there was a wooden dummy “Ivan Ivanovich” on board the ship, which, as planned, was ejected. The ship with Zvezdochka on board landed near the village of Karsha in the Perm region. That day the weather was bad, and the search group did not start searching for a long time. However, the descent vehicle with the dog was found by a passerby, who fed the animal and allowed it to warm up. A search party arrived later. This flight was the final check of the spacecraft before flying into space with a person on board. However, Zvezdochka was not the last dog to be sent into space. Chimpanzee Ham. Born in Cameroon, Africa, the chimpanzee Ham was the first hominid sent into space. In July 1959, three-year-old Ham began to be trained to perform tasks in response to specific light and sound signals. If the chimpanzee performed the task correctly, he was given a banana ball, and if not, he received an electric shock to the soles of his feet. On January 31, 1961, Ham was launched on the Mercury-Redstone 2 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral on a suborbital flight that lasted 16 minutes and 39 seconds. After its completion, the capsule with Ham splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, and a rescue ship discovered it the next day. Ham's flight was the penultimate one before American astronaut Alan Shepard's flight into space (the last was the flight of the chimpanzee Enos). After the chimpanzee's flight, Ham lived for 17 years at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., before being transferred to the North Carolina Zoo, where he remained for the rest of his life. Ham died at the age of 26 on January 19, 1983. Rats Hector, Castor And Pollux. To study mammal vigilance in zero gravity, scientists in 1961 decided to send rats into space on the Veronique AGI 24 weather rocket, developed in France. For this purpose, electrodes were inserted into the rat's brain to read brain signals. And the first surgical interventions It took about 10 hours to implant the electrodes, and the mortality rate during such operations was extremely high. The rodent on which the experiment was conducted was only used for 3-6 months due to the aging of the animal and necrosis of the skull, which was caused by the glue that fixed the connector to the skull. Thus, the first flight of a rat on a Veronique AGI 24 took place on February 22, 1961. During it, the rat was held in an extended position in a container using a special vest. In this case, the first rat that was placed in the container gnawed through a bundle of cables that read information, for which it was replaced by another rat. 40 minutes after launch, the rat, as planned, was evacuated from the rocket, and the next day it was brought to Paris. There, journalists who met the scientists with the rodent gave the rat the nickname Hector. 6 months after the flight, Hector was euthanized to study the effects of weightlessness on the electrodes in his body. Nevertheless, Hector's flight was not the last in the study of animal vigilance in conditions of weightlessness. At the next stage, a paired launch was carried out with an interval of three days, which should have made it possible to observe two animals in parallel. So, on October 15, 1962, Veronique AGI 37 was launched with rats Castor and Pollux. For technical reasons, the missile began its flight later than planned, and due to the loss of VHF communication with the search helicopter, it became separated from the missile head part was discovered only an hour and 15 minutes later. During this time, Castor died from overheating, as the temperature in the container in which he was upside down exceeded 40°C. Pollux, sent into space on October 18, 1962, suffered the same fate. Search helicopters were never able to locate the warhead with the container containing the animal. Felicette the cat. At the third stage of studying animal vigilance in conditions of weightlessness, cats were used. On the streets of Paris, scientists caught 30 stray cats and cats, after which they began preparing the animals for flight, including spinning in a centrifuge and training in a pressure chamber. 14 cats passed the selection, among which was Felix the cat. Felix had already been prepared for the flight and had electrodes implanted in his brain, but in the last minutes the lucky man was able to escape. The astronaut was urgently replaced: the cat Felicette was chosen. The suborbital flight on the Veronique AGI47 rocket took place on October 18, 1963. The state of weightlessness lasted 5 minutes 2 seconds. After the flight, the rescue service discovered a capsule with a cat separated from the rocket 13 minutes after launch. And according to the data obtained after the flight, the cat felt well. Felicette quickly became famous, and the flight was hailed by the media as an outstanding achievement. However, photographs of a cat with electrodes implanted in its head that accompanied publications in the press aroused criticism from many readers and fighters against ill-treatment with animals. And on October 24, 1963, another space flight took place under similar conditions with a cat on board. The animal with the unnamed number SS 333 died because the head of the rocket with the capsule was found only two days after its return to Earth. Dogs Veterok and Ugolek. The first longest flight in the history of astronautics was made by the dogs Veterok and Ugolek. The launch took place on February 22, 1966, and the flight ended 22 days later (the Kosmos-110 biosatellite landed on March 17). After the flight, the dogs were very weak, they had palpitations And constant thirst. In addition, when the nylon suits were removed from them, it was discovered that the animals had no hair, and diaper rash and bedsores appeared. Veterok and Ugolek spent their entire lives after the flight in the vivarium of the Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine. By the way, the record for the longest flight of dogs was broken five years later: Soviet cosmonauts spent 23 days, 18 hours and 21 minutes at the Salyut orbital station.

On August 19, 1960, the USSR launched the Sputnik-5 spacecraft with live cargo on board - dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice and two rats. After this, the dogs Belka and Strelka became one of the first animals to make an orbital space flight and return to Earth unharmed.

For Cosmonautics Day, we are talking about them and some other animals that have been in space.

Dogs Belka and Strelka.

After the flight of the dog Laika in 1957, which did not return to Earth (more about her will be discussed later), it was decided to send the dogs on a daily orbital flight with the possibility of returning to Earth in a descent module. For the space flight, it was necessary to select dogs with a light color (so they are better visible on the monitors of observation devices), whose weight does not exceed 6 kg, and whose height is 35 cm, and they must be female (it is easier for them to develop a device for relieving themselves ). And besides, the dogs had to be attractive, because perhaps they would be featured in the media. The outbred dogs Belka and Strelka were suitable for all these parameters.

As part of the preparation of these animals for flight, they were taught to eat jelly-like food, which was designed to meet the need for water and nutrition on board the ship. And the most difficult thing was to teach the dogs to spend a long time in a small cramped container in isolation and noise. To do this, Belka and Strelka were kept for eight days in a metal box comparable in size to the container of the descent module. At the last stage of training, the dogs were tested on a vibration stand and a centrifuge.

Two hours before the launch of Sputnik 5, which occurred on August 19, 1960 at 11:44 Moscow time, a cabin with dogs was placed in the spacecraft. And as soon as it took off and began to gain altitude, the animals experienced very rapid breathing and pulse. The stress stopped only after Sputnik 5 took off. And although most of the flight the animals behaved quite calmly, during the fourth orbit around the Earth, the Squirrel began to fight and bark, trying to remove the belts. She felt sick.

Subsequently, after analyzing this condition of the dog, scientists decided to limit human space flight to one orbit around the Earth. Belka and Strelka completed 17 complete orbits in approximately 25 hours, covering a distance of 700 thousand km.

It is also worth noting that Belka and Strelka were stand-ins for the dogs Chaika and Lisichka, who died during the launch of the Vostok 1K No. 1 spacecraft on July 28, 1960. Then the rocket fell to the ground and exploded at 38 seconds.

Laika dog.

The very first animal launched into Earth orbit was the Soviet dog Laika. Although there were two more contenders for this flight - stray dogs Mukha and Albina, who had already made a couple of suborbital flights earlier. But scientists felt sorry for Albina, because she was expecting offspring, and the upcoming flight did not involve the astronaut returning to Earth. This was technically impossible.

So, the choice fell on Laika. During training, she spent a long time in a mock-up container, and just before the flight she underwent surgery: breathing and pulse sensors were implanted. A few hours before the flight, which took place on November 3, 1957, the container with Laika was placed on the ship. At first she had an increased heart rate, but it returned to almost normal values ​​when the dog was in zero gravity. And 5-7 hours after the launch, having completed 4 orbits around the Earth, the dog died from stress and overheating, although it was expected that she would live for about a week.

There is a version that death occurred due to an error in calculating the satellite's area and the lack of a thermal control system (during the flight the temperature in the room reached 40°C). And also in 2002, an opinion appeared that the death of the dog occurred as a result of the oxygen supply being cut off. One way or another, the animal died. After this, the satellite made another 2,370 orbits around the Earth and burned up in the atmosphere on April 14, 1958.

However, after the failed flight, a number of more tests were carried out with similar conditions on Earth, since a special commission from the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers did not believe in the existence of a design error. As a result of these tests, two more dogs died.

The death of Laika was not announced ahead of schedule for a long time in the USSR, transmitting data on the well-being of the already dead animal. The media reported his death only a week after the dog was launched into space: it was said that Laika had been euthanized. But, of course, they learned about the true causes of the animal’s death much later. And when this happened, it caused unprecedented criticism from animal rights activists in Western countries. Many letters came from them expressing protest against the cruel treatment of animals, and there were even sarcastic proposals to send the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee N.S. Khrushchev into space instead of dogs.

The famous newspaper The New York Times, in its issue of November 5, 1957, called Laika “the shaggiest, loneliest and most unfortunate dog in the world.”

Monkeys Able and Miss Baker.

Before humans started going into space, several animals were sent there, including monkeys. The Soviet Union and Russia sent monkeys into space from 1983 to 1996, the United States from 1948 to 1985, and France sent two monkeys in 1967. In total, about 30 monkeys have taken part in space programs, and none of them has flown into space more than once. Early in the development of space flight, mortality among monkeys was extremely high. For example, in the United States, more than half of the animals involved in launches from 1940 to 1950 died during the flights or shortly after them.

The first monkeys to survive flight were Able the rhesus monkey and Miss Baker the squirrel monkey. All previous space flights with monkeys on board ended in the death of the animals from suffocation or failure of the parachute system.

Able was born at the Kansas Zoo (USA), and Miss Baker was purchased at a pet store in Miami, Florida. Both were taken to the Naval Air Medical School in Pensacola (USA). After training, in the early morning of May 28, 1959, the monkeys were sent into space aboard a Jupiter AM-18 rocket from Cape Canaveral. They rose to an altitude of 480 km and flew for 16 minutes, nine minutes of which they were in zero gravity. The flight speed exceeded 16,000 km/h.

During the flight, Able had high blood pressure and rapid breathing, and three days after the successful landing, the monkey died during the removal of the electrodes implanted in her body: she could not bear the anesthesia. Sensors were implanted into the brain, muscles and tendons to record movement activity during flight. Miss Baker died on November 29, 1984 at the age of 27 from kidney failure. She has reached the maximum age for her species.

Able's stuffed animal is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. And Miss Baker is buried on the territory of the US Space and Rocket Center in Hunstville (Alabama). On her tombstone there is always her favorite delicacy - several bananas.

Dog Zvezdochka.

18 days before Yuri Gagarin's flight, the USSR sent Sputnik 10 into space with the dog Zvezdochka on board. This single-orbit flight took place on March 25, 1961. In addition to the dog, there was a wooden dummy “Ivan Ivanovich” on board the ship, which, as planned, was ejected.

The ship with Zvezdochka on board landed near the village of Karsha in the Perm region. That day the weather was bad, and the search group did not start searching for a long time. However, the descent vehicle with the dog was found by a passerby, who fed the animal and allowed it to warm up. A search party arrived later.

This flight was the final check of the spacecraft before flying into space with a person on board. However, Zvezdochka was not the last dog to be sent into space.

Chimpanzee Ham.

Born in Cameroon, Africa, the chimpanzee Ham was the first hominid sent into space. In July 1959, three-year-old Ham began to be trained to perform tasks in response to specific light and sound signals. If the chimpanzee performed the task correctly, he was given a banana ball, and if not, he received an electric shock to the soles of his feet.

On January 31, 1961, Ham was launched on the Mercury-Redstone 2 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral on a suborbital flight that lasted 16 minutes and 39 seconds. After its completion, the capsule with Ham splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, and a rescue ship discovered it the next day. Ham's flight was the penultimate one before American astronaut Alan Shepard's flight into space (the last was the flight of the chimpanzee Enos).

After the chimpanzee's flight, Ham lived for 17 years at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., before being transferred to the North Carolina Zoo, where he remained for the rest of his life. Ham died at the age of 26 on January 19, 1983.

Rats Hector, Castor And Pollux.

To study mammal vigilance in zero gravity, scientists in 1961 decided to send rats into space on the Veronique AGI 24 weather rocket, developed in France. For this purpose, electrodes were inserted into the rat's brain to read brain signals. Moreover, the first surgical interventions to implant electrodes took about 10 hours, and the mortality rate during such operations was extremely high. The rodent on which the experiment was carried out was used only for 3-6 months due to the aging of the animal and necrosis of the skull, which was caused by the glue that fixed the connector to the skull.

Thus, the first flight of a rat on a Veronique AGI 24 took place on February 22, 1961. During it, the rat was held in an extended position in a container using a special vest. In this case, the first rat that was placed in the container gnawed through a bundle of cables that read information, for which it was replaced by another rat.

40 minutes after launch, the rat, as planned, was evacuated from the rocket, and the next day it was brought to Paris. There, journalists who met the scientists with the rodent gave the rat the nickname Hector. 6 months after the flight, Hector was euthanized to study the effects of weightlessness on the electrodes in his body.

Nevertheless, Hector's flight was not the last in the study of animal vigilance in conditions of weightlessness. At the next stage, a paired launch was carried out with an interval of three days, which should have made it possible to observe two animals in parallel. So, on October 15, 1962, Veronique AGI 37 was launched with rats Castor and Pollux.

For technical reasons, the missile began its flight later than planned, and due to the loss of VHF communication with the search helicopter, the warhead separated from the missile was discovered only an hour and 15 minutes later. During this time, Castor died from overheating, since the temperature in the container in which he was upside down exceeded 40 °C.

Pollux, sent into space on October 18, 1962, suffered the same fate. Search helicopters were never able to locate the warhead with the container containing the animal.

Felicette the cat.

At the third stage of studying animal vigilance in conditions of weightlessness, cats were used. On the streets of Paris, scientists caught 30 stray cats and cats, after which they began preparing the animals for flight, including spinning in a centrifuge and training in a pressure chamber. 14 cats passed the selection, among which was Felix the cat.

Felix had already been prepared for the flight and had electrodes implanted in his brain, but in the last minutes the lucky man was able to escape. The astronaut was urgently replaced: the cat Felicette was chosen.

The suborbital flight on the Veronique AGI47 rocket took place on October 18, 1963. The state of weightlessness lasted 5 minutes 2 seconds. After the flight, the rescue service discovered a capsule with a cat separated from the rocket 13 minutes after launch. And according to the data obtained after the flight, the cat felt well.

Felicette quickly became famous, and the flight was hailed by the media as an outstanding achievement. However, photographs of a cat with electrodes implanted in its head that accompanied the publication in the press aroused criticism from many readers and fighters against cruelty to animals.

And on October 24, 1963, another space flight took place under similar conditions with a cat on board. The animal with the unnamed number SS 333 died because the head of the rocket with the capsule was found only two days after its return to Earth.

Dogs Veterok and Ugolyok.

The first longest flight in the history of astronautics was made by the dogs Veterok and Ugolyok. The launch took place on February 22, 1966, and the flight ended 22 days later (the Kosmos-110 biosatellite landed on March 17).

After the flight, the dogs were very weak, they had a strong heartbeat and constant thirst. In addition, when the nylon suits were removed from them, it was discovered that the animals had no hair, and diaper rash and bedsores appeared. Veterok and Ugolyok spent their entire lives after the flight in the vivarium of the Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine.

By the way, the record for the longest flight of dogs was broken five years later: Soviet cosmonauts spent 23 days, 18 hours and 21 minutes at the Salyut orbital station.

They say that Yuri Gagarin, after his flight, at one of the banquets, uttered a phrase that became printed only in our time. “I still don’t understand,” he said, “who I am: “the first man” or “the last dog.”
What was said was considered a joke, but, as you know, there is some truth in every joke. It was dogs who paved the way into space for all Soviet cosmonauts. It is noteworthy that the world’s first cosmodrome also bears a “dog” name: in Kazakh “bai” means “dog”, and “Baikonur” literally means “dog house”.

Before sending a person into space, numerous experiments were carried out on animals in order to identify the effects of weightlessness, radiation, long flight and other factors on a living organism. Based on the data obtained, various techniques and recommendations for astronauts were developed. About the little-known pioneering heroes involved in experiments preceding manned flights, and we'll talk In this article.

Flights in the stratosphere

On the first flight hot-air balloon the person sent ram, rooster and duck. The “smaller brothers” also had to pave the way into space; the first passengers of spacecraft were animals. They tested the capabilities of a living organism in an unfamiliar environment and tested the operation of life support systems and various equipment. .

To pave a safe path for humans into space, the health and lives of many animals had to be sacrificed. In the USSR they preferred to conduct tests on dogs and mice, while in the USA monkeys were chosen for flights. Since 1975, joint international launches and experiments have been carried out using monkeys, turtles, rats and other living organisms.

The first terrestrial living organisms that found themselves in space were not animals, because, most likely, bacteria or other microorganisms entered space along with the first rocket launches, and the first animals, and the first living beings specially sent into space, were fruit flies Drosophila. The Americans sent a batch of flies into space on February 20, 1947, aboard the V2 rocket. The purpose of the experiment was to study the effects of radiation at high altitudes. The flies returned safe and sound in their capsule, which landed successfully using a parachute.

However, this was only a suborbital flight, on which a monkey named Albert-2 set off a little later on the same V2 rocket. Unfortunately, the parachute of the Albert-2 capsule did not open, and the first animal in space died when it hit the earth's surface. It is worth adding that the first animal in space could have been the monkey Albert (1), but his rocket did not reach the conventional boundary of space at an altitude of 100 km. On June 11, 1948, Albert the monkey died from suffocation.

The first squad of dogs - candidates for space flights - was recruited... in the gateways. These were ordinary ownerless dogs. They were caught and sent to a nursery, from where they were distributed to research institutes. The Institute of Aviation Medicine received dogs strictly according to specified standards: no heavier than 6 kilograms (the rocket cabin was designed for little weight) and no taller than 35 centimeters. Why were mongrels recruited? The doctors believed that from the first day they were forced to fight for survival, moreover, they were unpretentious and very quickly got used to the staff, which was tantamount to training. Remembering that the dogs would have to “show off” on the pages of newspapers, they selected “objects” that were more beautiful, slimmer and with intelligent faces.

Space pioneers were trained in Moscow on the outskirts of the Dynamo stadium - in a red-brick mansion, which before the revolution was called the Mauritania Hotel. In Soviet times, the hotel was located behind the fence of the military Institute of Aviation and Space Medicine. The experiments carried out in the former apartments were strictly classified.
From 1951 to 1960, a series of experiments were conducted to study the reaction of a living organism to overloads, vibrations and weightlessness during geophysical rocket launches. These were ballistic flights, that is, the rockets did not launch ships into orbit, but described a parabolic trajectory.

The first higher living organisms in space to survive the flight and successfully land on Earth were the dogs Gypsy and Desik, sent by the USSR on July 22, 1951 on the R-1B rocket. The flight to landing lasted about 20 minutes. No physiological abnormalities were found in the dogs. Dezik and Gypsy safely survived overload and weightlessness , passed the test with honor and returned unharmed from an altitude of 87 km 700 meters.

Gypsy and Desik

There were 5 more launches in this series; one of them, due to the disappearance of the main “pilot,” involved a puppy unprepared for the flight, which survived the mission well. After this incident, Korolev uttered the world-famous phrase about space flights on trade union vouchers.

A week after the first flight of dogs on a rocket, on July 29, 1951, the geophysical rocket R-1B (V-1B) was launched. There were dogs Dezik and Lisa on board. Desik was sent on the flight again to check how the dog would behave during repeated preparation and takeoff. The rocket launched safely, but at the appointed time the parachute, which was supposed to open high in the sky, did not appear. The training ground air squad was given the command to look for a landing cabin with dogs somewhere. Some time later she was found crashed on the ground. The investigation showed that strong vibration disabled the barorelay - a special device that ensures the release of the parachute at a certain altitude. The parachute did not open and the head of the rocket crashed into the ground at high speed. Desik and Lisa died, becoming the first victims of the space program. The death of the dogs caused serious worries for researchers, in particular S.P. Korolev. After this incident, it was decided to develop a system for emergency ejection of passengers from the rocket in the event of an emergency. At the same time, it was decided not to send Desik’s partner, Gypsy, on the flight anymore, but to preserve it for history. The dog was warmed up at home by the Chairman of the State Commission, Academician Blagonravov. They say that the first four-legged traveler had a stern disposition and until the end of his days was recognized as the leader among the surrounding dogs. One day the vivarium was inspected by a respectable general. The gypsy, who had the right to walk around the premises at any time, did not like the inspector, and he pulled him by the stripe. But the general was not allowed to kick the little dog in response: after all, he was an astronaut!

On August 5, 1951, the dogs Mishka and Chizhik made their first flight on the R-1B rocket. They were taken to the launch site of the test site at night. They went through the pre-flight preparations calmly. At dawn the rocket took off without special problems. After 18 minutes, a parachute appeared in the sky. Despite the instructions, the launch participants rushed to the landing site. The dogs, freed from trays and sensors, felt great and were petted, despite the fact that they had recently experienced severe overload. After the previous unsuccessful launch of Desik and Lisa, the researchers had hope that the test program would continue.

Preparing experimental dogs for “flight” in a pressure chamber. The dog Gypsy is dressed in a protective suit, the dog Mishka will also be ready soon

The fourth start of the dogs took place on August 19, 1951. Two days before, one of the dogs, named Bold, broke off his leash during a walk and ran away into the Astrakhan steppe. The loss of a specially trained dog threatened serious trouble, because the dogs were selected in pairs, according to psychological compatibility. The search continued until it got dark, but yielded nothing. It was decided to find a replacement for Bold the next day. On the morning of August 18, the experimenters were surprised to see Bold, who with a guilty look began to fawn on them. The examination showed that he physiological state and reflexes remained at the same level. The next day, on a quiet sunny morning, Smely and Ryzhik safely completed a rocket flight on an R-1B rocket.

On August 28, 1951, Mishka and Chizhik took off for the second time on the R-1B rocket. This time the experiment was complicated in order to bring human flight closer. A new automatic pressure regulator in the cabin was used, allowing excess gas mixture to be vented outside the rocket head. The regulator, which successfully passed tests on the stand, malfunctioned due to vibration in flight, depressurizing the cabin with dogs on high altitude. Despite the successful launch and landing of the rocket head, Mishka and Chizhik died from suffocation. The pressure regulator was sent for revision and the next launch was carried out without it.

Dogs that have been in space on rockets (from left to right): Brave, Snezhinka, Malek, Neva, Belka

The last (last) start, completing the first stage of flights on geophysical rockets, was scheduled for September 3, 1951. Neputevy and Rozhok were appointed passengers of the R-1B rocket. The day before, a complete check of the dogs and their physiological functions was carried out. Immediately before the start, the range staff noticed the absence of Rozhk. The cage was locked, the Unlucky one was in place, and the Horn inexplicably disappeared. Time to search new dog there was practically none. The researchers came up with the idea of ​​catching a dog that fit the parameters near the canteen and sending it unprepared. That’s what they did: they lured a dog of a suitable size, washed it, trimmed it, tried to attach sensors - the newly minted candidate behaved completely calmly. They decided not to report the incident to Korolev for now. Surprisingly, Neputevy and his new partner had a safe flight; the technology did not disappoint. After landing, Korolev noticed the substitution, and he was told what happened. Sergei Pavlovich assured that soon everyone would be able to fly on Soviet rockets. The new passenger of the rocket, who also turned out to be a puppy, was given the nickname ZIB (Spare for the Disappearing Bobik). Korolev, in his report to management, interpreted the abbreviation as “Reserve researcher without training.”

In the second series of launches in 1954-1956. to an altitude of 110 km, the purpose of the experiments was to test spacesuits for animals in conditions of depressurization of the cabin. Animals in spacesuits were ejected: one dog - from an altitude of 75-86 km, the second - from an altitude of 39-46 km. The animals successfully endured tests and overloads of 7g. Repeated runs met with varying degrees of success, and 5 of the 12 dogs died.

The launches were carried out at altitudes of 100-110 km (15 launches), 212 km (11 launches) and 450-473 km (3 launches). Thirty-six dogs launched into the stratosphere. Fifteen of them died.

Queen and Bear (second). The launch took place on July 2, 1954 on an R-1D rocket. Mishka died, and Damka (according to some sources Dimka) returned safely.

Ryzhik (second) and Lady. The launch took place on July 7, 1954 on an R-1D rocket. Ryzhik died, and Damka (Dimka) returned safe and healthy again.

Fox (second) and Bulba. The launch took place on February 5, 1955 on the R-1E rocket. Almost immediately the rocket deviated from its vertical course to the side. The automatically activated stabilization rudders, to level the position, sharply returned the rocket to its original position. The impact was so strong that both carts with dogs pierced the rocket body and fell to the ground. The dogs died. The fox was the favorite of the leading employee of the laboratory of pressurized cabins and spacesuits, Alexander Seryapin, who participated in preparing the dogs for flights. Since the accident occurred at an altitude of about 40 km, it happened before his eyes. After the fall of the carts, Seryapin, in violation of the instructions, buried Lisa not far from the place where they walked together.

Rita and Linda. The launch took place on June 25, 1955 on the R-1E rocket. Rita died.

Linda

Baby and Button. The launch took place on November 4, 1955 on the R-1E rocket. A cart with Baby ejected at an altitude of 90 km, due to rising strong wind deviated from the intended landing site. In addition, a snowstorm began. The parachute disappeared from visibility. Extensive searches over the next two days turned up nothing. On the third day, Alexander Seryapin and the search group accidentally discovered a cart with Baby. The parachute, which was bright enough to make it easier to find, was missing, although the dog was alive. It turned out that the parachute was cut off for his own needs by the shepherd of the flock of sheep near which the cart landed and disappeared.

Baby

Baby and Milda. The launch took place on May 31, 1956 on the R-1E rocket. The flight ended safely. According to some sources, Milda's dog's name was Minda.

Kozyavka and Albina (two flights in a row). Kozyavka and Albina flew together twice in a row - on June 7 and 14, 1956 on R-1E rockets. Both times, under the same conditions, one dog noticed an increase in heart rate, and the other a decrease. This phenomenon was recorded as a special personal tolerance to flight. Currently, the stuffed Kozyavka is in the State Central Museum modern history Russia.

Redhead and Lady. The launch took place on May 16, 1957. The R-2A rocket rose to a height of 212km. The flight was successful. Both dogs survived.

Redhead and Joyna. The launch took place on May 24, 1957 on an R-2A rocket. The dogs died due to depressurization of the cabin during flight.

Squirrel and Fashionista. The launch took place on August 25, 1957 on an R-2A rocket. The dog Belka was under anesthesia. The flight was successful.

Squirrel and Lady. The launch took place on August 31, 1957 on an R-2A rocket. The dog Belka was under anesthesia. The flight was successful.

Squirrel and Fashionista The launch took place on September 6, 1957 on an R-2A rocket. The dog Fashionista was under anesthesia. The flight was successful.

First animals in orbit

In 1957, it was decided to launch into orbit Living being to check how it will feel under new conditions: overloads and vibrations on takeoff, temperature changes and prolonged weightlessness. After careful selection, the role of the first bio-cosmonaut went to Laike, she was chosen for good behavior and good looks.

Meanwhile, two more stray dogs claimed his role - Mukha and Albina, who by that time had already made two suborbital flights. But Albina was expecting puppies, and the stern hearts of the scientists trembled - they took pity on the dog, because the flight did not involve the return of the space tourist to Earth. Unfortunately, she also had to play the role of the first victim of space, because due to a malfunction of the thermoregulation system, the dog died from overheating after 4 orbits around the Earth.

In any case, her fate was predetermined, because a one-way expedition was planned - the return of the capsule with the dog to Earth was not envisaged. First the unfortunate animal for a long time spent in a mock-up container, and before the flight also underwent surgery to implant breathing and pulse sensors. Laika's flight took place on November 3, 1957. At first, a rapid pulse was recorded, which recovered to almost normal values ​​when the animal found itself in weightlessness. However, five to seven hours after launch, Laika died, although it was expected that she would survive in orbit for about a week. The death of the animal was due to stress and overheating. But some believe that this was due to an error in calculating the satellite’s area and the lack of a thermoregulation system (during the flight the temperature “on board” reached 40 degrees). In 2002, a version also appeared that the dog died as a result of a loss of oxygen supply.

With the dead dog on board, the satellite made another 2,370 orbits around the planet and burned up in the atmosphere on April 14, 1958. And Soviet citizens received information about already dead dog another whole week after the launch of the device. After which the newspapers reported that Laika had been euthanized. The real reasons and the date of the dog’s death became known much later. When this happened, an unprecedented wave of criticism from Western animal rights activists followed. The entire world community then condemned this decision of the Kremlin. Instead of dogs, they even proposed sending the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, into space. And on November 5, 1957, The New York Times called Laika “the shaggiest, loneliest and most unfortunate dog in the world.”

For many years, the only reminder of Laika’s feat was her portrait on a pack of cigarettes with the same name (you must agree, a very strange version of a monument to a hero). And only on April 11, 2008 in Moscow on Petrovsko-Razumovskaya Alley on the territory of the Institute military medicine, where the space experiment was being prepared, a monument to Laika by sculptor Pavel Medvedev was erected. The two-meter monument represents space rocket, turning into a palm on which a four-legged explorer of extraterrestrial space proudly stands.

After the launch of Laika, the Soviet Union almost never sent biological objects into orbit: the development of a return vehicle equipped with life support systems was underway. On whom to test it? Of course, on the same dogs! It was decided to send only females on spaceship flights. The explanation is the simplest: for a female it is easier to make a spacesuit with a system for receiving urine and feces.

Third stage scientific research included flights of dogs on geophysical rockets R-2A and R-5A to altitudes from 212 to 450 km. In these flights, the dogs did not eject, but escaped along with the head of the rocket. In addition to dogs, there were white rats and mice in the cabin. Twice rabbits flew with the dogs. In some experiments, one of the dogs was sent into flight under anesthesia to clarify the mechanisms of shifts in physiological functions.

Palm and Fluff. The launch took place on February 21, 1958 on an R-5A rocket to a maximum altitude of 473 km. Palma and Fluff were in a special pressurized cabin of a new design. During the flight, the cabin depressurized and the dogs died.

Nipper and Palma (second) (two flights in a row). Kusachka, later renamed Otvazhnaya, and Palma launched twice in a row on August 2 and 13, 1958 on an R-2A rocket. Overloads ranged from 6 to 10 units. The flight was successful.

Motley and Belyanka.

The launch took place on August 27, 1958 at an altitude of 453 km. This was the maximum height to which the dogs climbed during the entire time and returned safely. The flight was carried out on an R-5A rocket. Overloads ranged from 7 to 24 units. After the flight, the dogs returned extremely tired and were breathing heavily, although no abnormalities in their physiology were detected. Belyanka's name was Marquise, but before the start she was renamed. Also known as White.

Zhulba and Button (second). The launch took place on October 31, 1958 on an R-5A rocket to an altitude of 415 km. During landing, the parachute system failed and the dogs died.

Brave and Snowflake.

Brave (formerly Kusachka) and Snezhinka (later renamed Zhemchuzhnaya, and then Zhulka) made a successful flight on an R-2A rocket on July 2 (according to some sources, July 8), 1959. Also in the cabin with the dogs was the rabbit Gray (aka Marfushka). The rabbit was tightly cast with the head and neck fixed in relation to the body. This was necessary for accurate filming of it. eye pupil. The experiment determined the muscle tone of the rectus eye muscles. The material obtained in this way indicated a decrease muscle tone in conditions of complete weightlessness.

Brave and Pearl The launch took place on July 10, 1959 on an R-2A rocket. Brave and Pearl (formerly Snowflake) returned safely.

In 1959 they rose to a height of 210 km and returned to Earth The Lady and the Booger. Upon landing, the animals were calm and did not break out of the compartment hatches. No peculiarities were noted in their behavior after the flight. They reacted to the nickname, to changes in the external situation, and ate greedily. The lady flew into space four times.

In the same 1959, Albina and Malyshka made flights on geophysical rockets.

In 1960, Brave, Malek and the rabbit Zvezdochka went into space. The launch took place on June 15, 1960 on an R-2A rocket to an altitude of 206 km. Along with the dogs, there was a rabbit named Zvezdochka in the cabin. The dog Brave made its fifth flight on a rocket, setting a record for the most number of launches by dogs. Currently, the effigy of Brave is in the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia.

The next task facing the designers was preparing a daily orbital flight with the return of the descent module to Earth.

On July 28, 1960, the Soviet Union attempted to launch a return capsule into orbit with the dogs Chaika and Vixen. Chanterelle and Chaika were supposed to return to Earth safe and sound, their descent module was protected by thermal insulation. The Queen really liked the affectionate red Fox. At the moment of fitting the dog to the ejection capsule of the descent vehicle, he came up, took it in his arms, stroked it and said: “I really want you to come back.” However, the dog failed to fulfill the wishes of the chief designer - on July 28, 1960, at the 19th second of flight, the side block of the first stage of the Vostok 8K72 rocket fell off, it fell and exploded. One of the engineers grumbled: “It was impossible to put a red dog on the rocket.” There were no press reports about the failed launch on July 28. Their backups successfully flew on the next ship and became famous.

Soon the problem was successfully solved: on August 19, 1960, Belka and Strelka launched together with 28 mice and 2 rats, and on August 20 they returned safely to Earth. This was a great victory in space exploration: for the first time, living beings returned from space flight, and the information collected about their physical condition made an invaluable contribution to physiological research.

Belka and Strelka became everyone's favorites. They were taken to kindergartens, schools, and orphanages. At press conferences, journalists were given the opportunity to touch the dogs, but were warned not to inadvertently snatch them.

Scientists did not limit themselves only to space experiments and continued research on earth. Now it was necessary to find out whether space flight affected the genetics of the animal. Strelka twice gave birth to healthy offspring, cute puppies that everyone would dream of purchasing. But everything was strict... Each puppy was registered, and they were personally responsible for it.

In August 1961, one of them - Pushka - was personally asked by Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev. He sent it as a gift daughter of US President John Kennedy, Caroline. So, perhaps, there are still descendants of the Strelka cosmonaut on American soil. Belka and Strelka spent the rest of their lives at the institute and died of natural causes.

Palma (second) and Malek The launch took place on September 16, 1960 on an R-2A rocket. This successful flight ended a series of experiments on launching dogs on geophysical rockets of the USSR.

Launch of the third ship from Bee and Fly took place on December 1, 1960. If previous flights have been reported backdating, then all radio stations broadcast about Bee and Mushka in Levitan’s voice Soviet Union. The flight was successful, however, due to problems in the control system, the ship descended along an undesigned trajectory into the Sea of ​​Japan. The last TASS message was as follows: “By 12 o’clock Moscow time on December 2, 1960, the third Soviet satellite ship continued its movement around the globe... The command was given to lower the satellite ship to Earth. Due to the descent along an off-design trajectory, the satellite ship ceased to exist upon entering the dense layers of the atmosphere. The last stage of the launch vehicle continues its movement in its previous orbit.” It was not accepted then to ask questions about what this off-design trajectory is that stops the flight of the ship.

And this is what happened. Because of small defect the braking impulse turned out to be significantly less than the calculated one, the descent trajectory turned out to be extended.

Consequently, the descent module had to enter the atmosphere somewhat later than the estimated time and fly out of the territory of the USSR.
How does APO work? Upon command to descend, the clock mechanism of the explosive device is activated simultaneously with the activation of the brake motors. The infernal mechanism can only be turned off by an overload sensor, which is triggered only when the descent vehicle enters the atmosphere. In the case of Pchelka and Mushka, the saving signal breaking the fuse circuit did not arrive at the estimated time, and the descent module, along with the dogs, turned into a cloud of small fragments in the upper layers of the atmosphere. Only the developers of the APO system received satisfaction: they succeeded in real conditions confirm its reliability. Subsequently, the system, without any special changes, migrated on board secret reconnaissance ships.

20 days later, on December 22, the next ship launched "Vostok 1K No. 6" with live crew - dogs Zhulka and Zhemchuzhina (also known as Zhulka and Alpha, and also as Comet and Joke), rats and mice. Zhulka already flew on geophysical rockets under the names Snezhinka and Zhemchuzhnaya in 1959. Some time after the launch, due to the destruction of the gas generator of the third stage of the launch vehicle, it was diverted away from the course. It was clear that she would not go into space. Having reached an altitude of only 214 km, there was an emergency separation of the descent module, which landed in Evenkia in the area of ​​the Podkamennaya Tunguska River (in the area of ​​the fall of the famous Tunguska meteorite). A group of scientists urgently flew to the crash area. Due to the difficulties of the search and the extremely low air temperature, the descent module was examined only on December 25. The descent vehicle lay unharmed, and sappers began clearing mines. It turned out that the ejection system failed during the descent, which miraculously saved the dogs’ lives, although the rest of the living creatures that were with the dogs died. They felt great inside the descent module, protected by thermal insulation. Jester and Comet were removed, wrapped in a sheepskin coat and urgently sent to Moscow as the most valuable cargo. This time there were no TASS reports regarding the failed launch. Subsequently, Zhulka was taken in by an aviation medicine specialist, academician Oleg Gazenko, who lived with him for about 14 years. Based on these events, the feature film “Alien Ship” was shot in 1985, with the participation of famous actors Soviet cinema.

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev did not back down from his decision: two successful starts and a man flies. On the following ships the dogs were launched one at a time.

On March 9, 1961, Chernushka went into space. The dog had to make one revolution around the earth and return - an exact model of human flight. Everything went well.

18 days before Yuri Gagarin's flight, another dog was sent into space - Zvezdochka. Along with her on board was a dummy named Ivan Ivanovich, who, as planned, was ejected during the flight.

On March 25, 1961, the flight of the dog Luck took place, to which the first cosmonaut Yu. A. Gagarin gave the name Zvezdochka before the launch. The one-orbit flight on the Vostok ZKA No. 2 ship was successful and the vehicle with Zvezdochka landed near the village of Karsha in the Perm region. The dog survived. Although, probably, this would hardly have happened if it had not been for the pilot of the Izhevsk air squad, Lev Okkelman, who had extensive experience in flying in adverse conditions at low altitudes and therefore volunteered to find the dog. The pilot actually found, gave water and warmed up the unfortunate animal. The fact is that the weather was bad and the “official” search group could not begin their search for a long time. A monument to the cosmonaut dog Zvezdochka has been erected in Izhevsk.

In total, from July 1951 to September 1962, 29 dog flights took place into the stratosphere to an altitude of 100-150 kilometers. Eight of them ended tragically. The dogs died from depressurization of the cabin, failure of the parachute system, and problems in the life support system. Alas, they did not receive even a hundredth of the glory that their four-legged colleagues who were in orbit covered themselves with. Even if posthumously...

Cosmonaut dogs (from left to right): Belka, Zvezdochka, Chernushka and Strelka, 1961.

The last time dogs went into space was in 1966. Already after human flights into space. This time, scientists studied the conditions of living organisms during long flights. Veterok and Ugolek were launched into space on February 22, 1966 on the Kosmos-110 biosatellite. The flight duration was 23 days - only in June 1973 this record was exceeded by the crew of the American orbital station Skylab. To this day, this flight remains a record duration for dogs. This last flight of dogs into space ended successfully - the dogs landed and passed the baton of space exploration to people.

73 dogs were sent into space, 18 of them died

Flights of animals into space still produce a lot useful information. Thus, the last flight of the Bion-M satellite with various living organisms on board, which lasted one month, provided a lot of material for studying the effects of radiation and long-term weightlessness on the vital functions of the organism. The research results will be used to develop new protection for the crew of a manned expedition to Mars.

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Monkeys and dogs have become quite familiar “astronauts”. You won't surprise anyone with them in orbit. However, these are far from the only representatives of fauna that have been in space.

Turtles
The first time turtles went into space was in 1968 on board the Soviet spacecraft 7K-L1, which in print was called Zond-5. It was this ship that made the first flyby of the Moon in the world. The entire flight lasted 7 days, all the animals that were present on board tolerated it quite well. It is noted that the turtles after returning to Earth were active and ate with appetite.

Guinea pigs
Rodents in space are commonplace. Laboratory mice, rats, hamsters and even Guinea pigs We visited there several times as part of various missions. Basically, they are sent into orbit to conduct various experiments in a state of weightlessness.

Fish
Not as frequent guests in space as rodents, of course, but also necessary, since they were also involved in experiments on bone degradation and muscle atrophy in zero gravity. Although, while in the water, the fish still experienced the effect of microgravity and swam not in the usual lines, but in loops that were atypical for them.

Frogs, toads and newts
Tritons were first sent into space in 1985 as part of the Soviet Bion space program. Quite a few other amphibians such as toads and frogs also visited there. Their behavior and reactions to various stimuli in space have always been of great interest to scientists because of the unusual habitat of these animals on Earth - between land and water.

Jellyfish
Jellyfish in space had a very important mission: on June 5, 1991, 2,478 small jellyfish were packaged and sent into orbit to find out how gravity would affect those individuals that would be born in conditions of weightlessness. Jellyfish adapted to life in space quite well and soon their numbers reached 6,000 individuals. Unfortunately, on Earth, jellyfish born in space suffered from vertigo and were unable to adapt to gravity.

Tardigrades
But these handsome guys became real celebrities after their flight into space. In 2007, about three thousand of these tiny translucent “caterpillars” were sent into space to test whether they really are so hardy. Tardigrades were influenced by cosmic radiation and exposure to outer space, But most of of them remained safe and sound.

Spiders
If you think that there is nothing worse than a spider suddenly taking up residence in your house, imagine what it would be like to release a spider from a jar in space? In 2011, two spiders from the golden-weaving order were sent to the MSC in order to study their ability to weave webs in conditions of weightlessness or very weak gravity. It's good that they didn't manage to escape. The animals reacted quite normally to the flight and behaved very calmly.

Quail
In 1990, several dozen quail eggs were delivered into space to study the effect of microgravity conditions on their embryonic development. The animals developed in an incubator specially created for this purpose and after hatching they felt quite well.

Cats
And, of course, what would space be without our beloved pets? There has been only one documented launch of a cat so far. In 1963, France sent the cat Felicette into suborbital flight. She reached in aircraft altitude of more than 100 km, after which it returned safely to earth.

On November 3, 1957, 60 years ago, Sputnik 2 entered low-Earth orbit. Together with him, the first warm-blooded animal, the dog Laika, ended up beyond the boundaries of the earth’s atmosphere, which began the era of space travel with a crew on board. The purpose of this launch was “to determine the very possibility of living beings staying at altitudes of up to 100-110 km after being thrown there using rockets, subsequent ejection and parachute descent.”

We've collected animals that have sacrificed their lives in the space race and left the surface of the Earth, from the Soviet dog Laika to the American chimpanzee Ham.

Iranian monkey

Iranian state television said it had successfully sent a monkey into space - but did not provide any details about the project. The monkey experiment is part of the Iranian space program. Previously, this country successfully launched a mouse, a turtle and worms into orbit. Iran has made no secret of its desire to send an Iranian astronaut into space, but the US and its allies are concerned that technology from the space program could also be used to develop long-range missiles. Meanwhile, some scholars are skeptical that Iran can pull off such a project, while others dismiss it as something that was already achieved at the expense of the world's major powers nearly 70 years ago.

Laika

Despite the fact that many animals who have been in space have returned home, not all have succeeded. Laika took part in the history of space exploration in 1957, but was also sacrificed for the final frontier. Hastily placed aboard the Soviet Sputnik 2, she was the first animal in orbit. But the Soviet space program had no plans to return the satellite, and Laika died after a few hours in space.

Able

On May 28, 1959, Able the macaque (pictured above) and Baker the squirrel monkey were launched 480 kilometers above the Earth's surface aboard an American Jupiter rocket. From their "cabin" in the forward compartment, they returned safely to Earth, but Able died due to the administration of anesthesia several days later, when doctors tried to remove the electrode. She followed in the footsteps of Albert the macaque, who in 1949 became the first animal in space, traveling 135 kilometers aboard the V-2 but dying on impact with Earth.

Baker

Able's companion Baker was photographed wearing the BIOPACK bag she lived in during the flight. After returning to Earth, she lived to the ripe old age of 27 and died in 1984.

Brave, Snowflake and Marfusha

In July 1959, two dogs, Brave (left) and Snowflake (not in the photo), went into space along with the rabbit Marfusha, who was also called Little Marfa (right). Brave became an experienced pilot, completing five flights in total.

Miss Sam

Miss Sam the macaque - the mate of another monkey, Sam - was one of NASA's lead test monkeys. She helped test the escape mechanism for astronauts if they encountered problems during launch. On January 21, 1960, she was sent in the Mercury capsule. Miss Sam reached a speed of 2900 kilometers per hour and rose to an altitude of 15 kilometers by the time she was returned to Atlantic Ocean. In the photo she is in her spacesuit.

Belka and Strelka

Pair Soviet dogs who left their mark on history. On August 19, 1960, after a year of training, they became the first animals to return safely from space orbit. In fact, they were not alone, they were accompanied by a rabbit, 40 mice, a couple of rats and several flies and plants. In this photo they are at a press conference three days after their historic flight.

Ham

11 days after John F. Kennedy became the first Catholic in the White House, NASA made Ham the first chimpanzee in space. Unlike Kennedy, Ham was not Native American, but was originally from West Africa. Despite the fact that the flight was 68 kilometers higher and 2,400 kilometers per hour faster than expected, Ham tolerated it well, experiencing only slight dehydration and fatigue. In this photo, he rests aboard a rescue boat after being pulled from the Atlantic Ocean.

Felix

In October 1963, France sent the first cat into space aboard a Véronique rocket. Although not as famous as his cartoon namesake, Felix was featured on a 1992 stamp issued by the Comoros government.

Unnamed squirrel monkeys

With the advent of the space shuttle, NASA decided to test it on monkeys. long term consequences stay in space. In 1985, the agency sent two squirrel monkeys - they had no names - and two dozen white rats aboard the Challenger. Here two of them look through the glass while floating in the air. Both monkeys returned safely to Earth.

frogs

An astronaut holds a frog aboard the space shuttle Endeavor in 1992. NASA sent frogs into space to study how weightlessness affects amphibian eggs fertilized and hatched in space.

Frog

No, it's not Alien: it's a frog, an Earth creature sent into space aboard Columbia in 1997 to study the effects of reduced gravity on nervous system. Scientists chose the frog because its ear is similar in structure to a human ear.

Mouse mission to Mars?

What's next for animal space explorers? They could help answer questions about a person's further journey deeper into solar system. A team of scientists hopes to send mice into Earth orbit aboard a satellite designed to simulate the gravity of Mars - the satellite sits between the weightlessness of space and Earth's gravity - to see how they react.

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