Sad Truth Behind Animals Sent To Space

Sad Truth Behind Animals Sent To Space is really exciting and interesting.

Many great animals have been sent to outer space. As well as the fruit flies and Laika, since the 1940s, a variety of animals have been sent into space including various ants, cats, frogs, and even jellyfish. To date, a total of 32 monkeys have flown in outer space. These species include rhesus macaques, squirrel monkeys and pig-tailed monkeys. Chimpanzees have also flown, it seems.

Félicette (the only great cat to have ever survived a temporary trip into space) is now being recognized for her extraterrestrial achievements in the form of a bronze statue at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. The space cat was part of a 15-minute suborbital mission in 1963.

Various important animals died in outer space. According to Animals In Space by Colin Burgess and Chris Dubbs, the Soviet Union launched dogs into flight 71 times between 1951 and 1966, with 17 deaths. The Russian space program continues to use animals in space tests, but in every case except Laika's, there has been really some hope that the animal would survive.

Animals in outer space originally served to test the important survivability of spaceflight, before human spaceflights were attempted. Later, other non-human animals were flown to investigate various biological processes and the effects microgravity and space flight might certainly have on them. Bioastronautics is an area of important bioengineering research which spans the study and support of life in space. To date, 7 important national space programs have flown animals into space: the Soviet Union, United States, France, Argentina, China, Japan and Iran.