Animals in space

A monkey prepared to launch

Who was the first living being launched into outer space? No, it wasn't a human! It was... a fruit fly!! They sent it to space in a rocket in 1947 to explore the effects of radiation exposure at high altitudes. The fruit fly was recovered alive! Other missions carried biological samples, like moss.

The Soviet Union in 1961 launched mice and, for the first time, guinea pigs and frogs.

France flew the first rat (Hector) into space in 1961 and, a year later, two more ones. It also planned to launch the cat Felix into space in 1963, but Felix escaped, so they chose another cat, Félicette, who later was recovered alive. France also launched two monkeys a years later.

China launched mice and rats in 1965, and two dogs in 1996.

The United States launched Biosatellite I in 1966 with fruit flies, parasitic wasps, flour beetles and frog eggs, along with bacteria, amoebae, plants and fungi.

In 1967, Argentina launched the rat Belisario, and some more rats after him.

The Soviet Union also launched... the first tortoise in space!! It was sent along with wine flies, meal worms and other biological specimens. These animals, including the turtle, were the first ones in deep space.

Albert II became the first monkey in space only two years later (the original Albert died
while he was launching). Albert II reached about 134 kilometres, and died on a impact after a parachute failure. Numerous monkeys were flown by the U.S after him, but about 2/3 of them died.

Laika in her spaceship

The dog Laika was the first space animal into orbit, launched aboard the Soviet Sputnik 2 spacecraft. Laika died during the flight, as was intended, because the technology to return from orbit had not yet been developed. At least 10 other dogs were launched into orbit as well before 1961, when Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space.






Well... That's the history of animals in space until now it, and it's very summarised. But now, here comes the question: How many animals do you think died in total in these experiments until humans took over from them? Send lots of animals to space, knowing they'll die, just trying to invest and get benefit from space, only for our interests... Is that correct? Is it even ethic?

We use animals to get all we want, without caring about how much they suffer or the danger it causes to its species. I think we should be a bit more careful about this, because we can't just send a tortoise, a monkey, a dog or a cat to space and see how it goes. Many animals are in danger of extinction. Shouldn't we care about this? Try to resolve this problem? Then, why are we launching them into space, wasting so much lives for our own benefit? Shouldn't we think of another option, instead of limit to take the most comfortable one?