Animals That Flew Into Space and What Their Flights Tested

A shipment of fruit flies lifted off from White Sands, New Mexico, on February 20, 1947. Researchers wanted to know what cosmic radiation might do to living things at high altitude. The rocket reached about 68 miles (109 kilometers), and the flies parachuted back alive. The pictured fly represents the research species.

Sputnik 2 made Laika the first animal to orbit Earth in November 1957. The Soviet spacecraft carried equipment to track her condition, but it had no system to bring her back. She died early in the flight, within hours according to later accounts.

Baker, a squirrel monkey, and Able, a rhesus macaque, flew aboard an American Jupiter rocket in May 1959. The team monitored the animals through launch, weightlessness, and return. Both were recovered alive. Able died a few days later under anesthesia before an electrode could be removed, while Baker lived until 1984.

The Soviet dogs Belka and Strelka shared a capsule with other animals and biological samples. In August 1960, they returned alive after orbiting Earth, showing that a spacecraft of the type being developed for human flight could bring living passengers back.

On January 31, 1961, Ham became the first chimpanzee in space. He performed a trained lever task during the suborbital Mercury flight, helping test whether a passenger could work controls through launch and weightlessness. His capsule splashed down well beyond the planned recovery point, and he survived.

Enos became the first chimpanzee to orbit Earth on November 29, 1961. He performed a series of trained tasks during the flight. A faulty lever punished some correct answers with an electric shock. Controllers called him home after two orbits because of other spacecraft problems, and he was recovered alive.

In October 1963, French researchers sent Félicette on a brief suborbital flight aboard a Véronique rocket. Their instruments tracked her brain activity during the flight. She returned alive and was later euthanized for examination. Her portrait appeared on this commemorative card.

Two steppe tortoises flew around the Moon on the Soviet Zond 5 mission in September 1968. They survived the flight and a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Scientists who examined the tortoises reported some weight loss, but otherwise found them in good health.

In 1970, the Orbiting Frog Otolith experiment sent two bullfrogs into Earth orbit to study how inner-ear balance sensors respond to weightlessness. NASA recorded changes in nerve activity, then found that the response to a brief spin returned to normal by the fifth day. Other changes persisted. The pictured bullfrog represents the species.

Five little pocket mice flew in the Apollo 17 command module in 1972. The experiment used radiation detectors to look for links between cosmic-ray tracks and changes in tissue. Four survived the mission. This picture shows the species used in the experiment.

Two cross spiders traveled to Skylab in 1973 for a student experiment designed by Judith Miles. She wanted to find out whether an orb weaver could make a web in microgravity. Arabella, pictured here, did so. Anita died aboard Skylab, and Arabella was found dead when the mission returned.

Four medaka flew aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1994. The fish mated and laid fertilized eggs in orbit, and astronaut Chiaki Mukai reported the first hatchling to researchers on Earth. The pictured Japanese rice fish is an example of the species used in the experiment.