00:00Animals in Space, the pioneering creatures who paved humanity's path beyond Earth.
00:07Long before humans became regular space travelers, animals were already helping scientists understand what life beyond Earth might do to
00:15a living body.
00:16Fruit flies became the first animals launched into space in 1947, traveling aboard a V-2 rocket to study radiation
00:24exposure.
00:25Two years later, Albert II, a rhesus monkey, became the first primate to reach space.
00:32The Soviet Union later sent dogs, including Laika, the first animal to orbit Earth, followed by Belka and Strelka, who
00:39returned safely from orbit in 1960.
00:42In 1961, Hom, the chimpanzee, proved that a trained animal could perform tasks during a space flight.
00:49But mammals were only the beginning.
00:51Bullfrogs helped scientists investigate balance in weightlessness, while Japanese medica fish and mice have been used to study bones, muscles,
01:00genes, and other biological changes in microgravity.
01:03Jellyfish reproduced in space so researchers could examine how gravity influences development.
01:10Tardigrades became famous for surviving direct exposure to the harsh environment of space.
01:16Spiders, named Arabella and Anita, even traveled aboard Skylab, where researchers watched them build webs without normal gravity.
01:24France also sent Felicet, the first cat to reach space, on a suborbital mission in 1963.
01:31From insects and amphibians to dogs, primates, fish, spiders, and microscopic water bears, animals have been part of space science
01:39for generations.
01:39Their missions helped researchers answer questions humans could not safely test first.
Comments