Ham the juvenile chimp with trainers at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 31, 1961. Photo: NASA
From
spiders
struggling
to
make
webs
in
orbit
to
bats
clinging
to
the
outside
of
the
Space
Shuttle,
the
history
of
animals
in
space
is
as
fascinating
as
it
is
weird.
Here
are
some
of
our
favorite
stories.
On June 11, 1948, a rhesus monkey named Albert I become the first animal to reach space, strapped aboard a V-2 Blossom rocket that flew to a suborbital height of 83 miles (134 kilometers) above the surface. Since then, scientists have sent a dizzying assortment of living organisms to space, including dogs, apes, reptiles, insects, plants, and various microorganisms. Many animals were killed as a result of these pioneering missions. As NASA has said, they “gave their lives...in the name of technological advancement, paving the way for humanity’s many forays into space.”
This story was originally published on August 4, 2022.
The dogs that (almost) got away
Laika aboard the Sputnik 2 capsule prior to launch in 1957. Photo: Copyright 1957 The Associated Press (AP)
The Soviet Union sent its fair share of dogs to space during the formative years of the country’s space program, including Laika—the first animal ever sent to Earth orbit. Laika died during this one-way mission. These experiments were crude by today’s standards, as Laika, among other Soviet dogs sent to space, were literally stray mutts picked off the street.
Prior to the 1957 Laika mission, the Soviet Union conducted a number of high-altitude tests with canines. In 1951, a dog named Smelaya ran away a day before the scheduled launch, leading to concerns that she might get eaten by wolves living nearby, according to NASA’s “A Brief History of Animals in Space.” Smelaya managed to return the next day, and the test flight proved to be a success. Later that same year, a dog named Bobik also escaped, never to return. Unfazed, the mission planners found a replacement hanging out near a local pub; the team named her ZIB—the Russian acronym for “Substitute for Missing Dog Bobik.” It’s the classic story of hanging out at a bar one day and then finding yourself launched to a suborbital height of 60 miles (100 kilometers) the next.
Houston,
we
have
an
overdose
The
“life
cell”
holding
four
back
mice
for
the
Discoverer
3
mission.
Photo:
USAF
The
first
mice
to
reach
space
did
so
in
the
1950s,
but
these
early
missions
often
ended
in
disaster.
In
1959,
the
U.S.
Air
Force
scrubbed
a
launch
attempt
from
Vandenberg
Air
Force
Base
in
California
when
sensors
failed
to
detect
signs
of
life
in
the
Discoverer
3
capsule.
The
four
mice
were
found
dead,
having
overdosed
on
the
krylon
paint
sprayed
onto
their
cages
to
cover
the
rough
edges.
The
mice
had
evidently
found
the
krylon
to
be
tastier—and
deadlier—than
the
formula
provided
to
them.
A second launch attempt with a back-up mouse crew was also scrubbed when sensors recorded 100% humidity inside the capsule. “The capsule was opened up and it was discovered that the sensor was located underneath one of the mouse cages,” according to NASA. The sensor was “unable to distinguish the difference between water and mouse urine,” and the launch proceeded after it dried out, according to the space agency. The rocket finally managed to blast off on June 3, but the rocket’s upper stage fired downward, sending the vehicle—along with the four mice—crashing into the Pacific Ocean. Clearly, it was a mission that simply wasn’t meant to be.
Ham,
the
unwitting
hero
Ham the juvenile chimp with trainers at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 31, 1961. Photo: NASA
Ham the chimpanzee is famous for being the first great ape in space, earning this distinction on January 31, 1961. A key goal of this NASA Mercury-Redstone mission was to determine if animals could perform tasks in space. To that end, Ham, who was only 2 years old when the training began, was taught to move levers, both to receive awards in the form of banana pellets and to avoid punishment in the form of electric shocks to his feet. Ham, in addition to dealing with the terrifying demands of spaceflight, also had to actively avoid getting electric shocks during his journey. The young chimp performed exceptionally well—and under incredible adversity, as NASA explains:
Ham performed these tasks well, pushing the continuous avoidance lever about 50 times and receiving only two shocks for bad timing. On the discrete avoidance lever, his score was perfect. Reaction time on the blue-light lever averaged .82 second, compared with a preflight performance of .8 second. Ham had gone from a heavy acceleration g load on exit through six minutes of weightlessness and to another heavy g load on reentry hardly missing a trick. Onboard cameras filming Ham’s reaction to weightlessness also recorded a surprising amount of dust and debris floating around inside the capsule during its zenith.
The successful mission set the stage for Alan Shepard, who became the first U.S. citizen to reach space in 1961. Ham lived the rest of his life in zoos.
Astrocat
Félicette in her carrier before the historic flight. Photo: CNES
On
October
18,
1963,
the
French
space
program
launched
Félicette—a
stray
Persian
cat—into
space.
Electrodes
were
implanted
into
the
cat’s
skull
to
track
neurological
activity
and
to
trigger
physical
responses.
Either
surprisingly
or
unsurprisingly
(it’s
hard
to
say
which),
Félicette
remains
the
only
cat
to
have
been
successfully
delivered
to
space.
Scientists
euthanized
Félicette
shortly
after
the
flight
to
study
her
brain.
In 2017, a crowdfunding campaign succeeded in building a memorial for Félicette—a bronze statue depicting the cat “perched atop Earth, gazing up toward the skies she once traveled.” The statue is currently located at the International Space University in France.
Dog
days
Soviet cosmodogs Veterok and Ugolyok. Photo: Roscosmos
In
February
1966,
the
Soviet
space
program
launched
the
dogs
Veterok
and
Ugolyok
to
beyond
the
protective
Van
Allen
Belts,
which
they
did
to
study
the
prolonged
effects
of
space
travel
and
the
deleterious
effects
of
radiation.
The
dogs
stayed
in
space
for
21
days,
which
remains
the
canine
record.
On
their
return,
the
dogs
were
dehydrated
and
they
had
lost
weight.
Veterok
and
Ugolyok
also
exhibited
weakened
circulation,
muscle
atrophy,
and
a
loss
of
coordination;
it
took
them
an
entire
month
to
recover.
Their
restricted
mobility
likely
had
a
lot
to
do
with
it,
but
it
was
an
early
sign
that
prolonged
stays
in
space
can
produce
bad
health
outcomes.
The
21
days
in
space
remained
a
record
for
any
animal—including
humans—until
the
Soviet
Soyuz
11
mission,
in
which
three
cosmonauts
stayed
aboard
the
Salyut
1
space
station
for
23
days.
Tragically,
the
three
men
died
during
reentry
and
remain
the
only
humans
to
have
perished
in
space
(the
crew
of
the
Space
Shuttle
Columbia
was
technically
not
in
space
when
the
shuttle
disintegrated
on
February
1,
2003,
resulting
in
their
deaths).
A
veritable
zoo
around
the
Moon
The Soviet Zond 5 capsule after splashdown. Photo: S.P.Korolev RSC Energia
For the Soviet Zond 5 mission, a batch of living organisms took a historic trip around the Moon and back. Launched in 1968, the payload included a pair of Steppe turtles, hundreds of fruit fly eggs, worms, plants (including air-dried cells of carrots, tomatoes, peas, wheat, and barley), seeds, bacteria, and other creatures. No living creatures had ever ventured so far into space, and the mission ended successfully with the capsule splashing down in the Indian Ocean. The tortoises were still alive but at the point of starvation, the result of a 39-day fast. A duplicate mission later in the year suffered an anomaly that resulted in the loss of cabin pressure and the demise of all biological specimens.
Fishy
behavior
Scientist John Boyd holding a bag of two mummichog minnows who became the first fish in space as part of the Skylab 3 mission, July to September 1973. Photo: NASA
A fish, specifically a mummichog (Fundulus heteorclitus), was sent to Skylab in 1973. Scientists were seeking to study the ways in which vestibular function, which controls balance in normal gravity, may be compromised in space. The tiny fish, along with a batch of fish that developed from embryos brought to space, exhibited strange swimming behavior, moving in loops. “The fish were probably responding to signals from extremely fine hairs in their otolith [a vestibular organ in fish] which straighten out in the absence of gravity,” according to NASA. “They reacted by swimming in a forward loop which was distorted into a sideways loop by the tendency to keep their backs to the light.” The fish, it would seem, were responding to light (i.e. visual cues) in the absence of gravity, which would normally allow them to discern up from down.
Tangled
webs
Arabella’s first web had serious issues, but her next web more resembled those she spun back on Earth. Photo: NASA
In
1973,
scientists
delivered
Anita
and
Arabella,
two
common
Cross
spiders
(Araneus
diadematus),
to
Skylab
3.
High
school
student
Judith
Miles
wondered
if
microgravity
conditions
would
prevent
or
somehow
complicate
the
spiders’
ability
to
weave
webs,
and
she
proposed
the
Skylab
experiment
with
scientists
from
the
Marshall
Space
Flight
Center.
Both
spiders
struggled
at
first
and
were
reluctant
to
do
anything
while
in
orbit,
but
with
some
prodding
and
access
to
rare
filet
mignon
(yes,
really)
and
water,
the
spiders
began
to
weave
rudimentary
webs.
Anita
and
Arabella
got
better
at
building
their
webs
on
subsequent
attempts
and
their
silky
creations
compared
well
to
those
made
back
on
Earth.
“Judy
Miles’
experiment
received
a
great
deal
of
attention
both
within
NASA
and
in
the
world
press
and
indicated
that
there
was
keen
interest
in
space
experiments
involving
living
organisms,”
NASA
described.
High school student Judith Miles proposing her Skylab spider web space experiment in 1972. Photo: NASA
Survivors
of
disaster
The C. elegans nemotodes, or round worms, undergoing experimentation on the Space Shuttle. Photo: NASA/Ames/Volker Kern
All
seven
crew
members
were
killed
during
the
2003
Space
Shuttle
Columbia
disaster,
but
something
did
pull
through
this
awful
episode:
worms.
Incredibly,
containers
of
roundworms
(C.
elegans)
managed
to
survive
Columbia’s
calamitous
breakup.
The
nutrient
solution
in
which
they
were
stored
served
as
a
shield,
as
did
the
container.
The
worms
also
managed
to
reproduce
and
spawn
a
lineage
that
produced
five
generations
in
the
months
following
the
accident.
Tough
tardigrades
A tardigrade as seen through a microscope. Image: Philippe Garcelon
In one of the greatest feats of endurance, a batch of tardigrades managed to survive 10 days of exposure to open space. The experiment occurred in 2007 as part of the European Space Agency’s FOTON-M3 mission, and it established tardigrades, also known as water bears, as among the toughest organisms on the planet—and off. “Our principle finding is that the space vacuum, which entails extreme dehydration and cosmic radiation, were not a problem for water bears,” said TARDIS project leader Ingemar Jönsson, from the University of Kristianstad in Sweden.
Stowaway
bat
A bat clinging to the Space Shuttle fuel tank in 2009. Photo: NASA
As
Space
Shuttle
Discovery
prepared
to
launch
for
the
STS-119
mission
in
March
2009,
ground
controllers
noticed
a
bat
clinging
to
the
external
fuel
tank.
Looking
at
images,
wildlife
experts
believed
the
bat
had
broken
a
wing
and
was
experiencing
a
problem
with
its
right
shoulder
or
wrist.
Ground
controllers
hoped
it
would
fly
away
on
its
own,
but
the
bat
stayed
put,
remaining
visible
on
the
fuel
tank
as
the
Shuttle
cleared
the
tower.
The
ultimate
fate
of
the
bat
was
never
determined,
but
it’s
fair
to
say
this
story
likely
did
not
have
a
happy
ending.