Animal astronauts

Wednesday, 09 November 2011 15:33

Written by Editor

This week I want to pay tribute to all the unsung heroes of space travel; that is the animals that tried it first.

November 3rd 1957 saw the launch of a Russian dog called Laika (pictured right) on board Sputnik 2. Scientists believed humans would be unable to survive the launch or the conditions of outer space, so they viewed flights by animals as a necessary precursor to human missions. As little was known about the impact of space flight on living creatures at the time of Laika's mission, and as the technology to de-orbit and return to Earth had not yet been invented, then there was no provision for Laika's survival.

Laika was a three-year-old female mongrel found as a stray wandering the streets of Moscow. Soviet scientists chose to use stray dogs since they assumed that such animals had already learned to endure conditions of extreme cold and hunger. Her true pedigree is unknown, although it is generally accepted that she was part husky and part terrier. To adapt her to the confines of the tiny cabin of Sputnik 2, she was kept in progressively smaller cages for periods up to 20 days. The extensive close confinement caused her to stop urinating or defecating and caused her general condition to deteriorate. In truth she was undernourished and dehydrated.

Laika was placed inside the capsule of Sputnik 2 on 31st October 1957, three days before launch. At that time of year the temperature at the launch site was extremely cold and a hose connected to a heater that was meant to keep her container warm failed. Therefore two assistants were assigned to keep a constant watch on Laika before launch. Sensors showed her heart rate was 103 beats/min before launch and increased to 240 beats/min during the lift off. Laika completed three orbits of the Earth. But after seven hours into the flight it was decided that she had endured enough and no further sign of life was received from the spacecraft. Poisoned food had been fed to her.

Five months later, after 2,570 orbits, Sputnik 2 disintegrated – along with Laika's remains – during re-entry on April 14, 1958.

But although Laika was the first animal to orbit the Earth she was not the first in space. At least 10 other dogs were launched into sub-orbital flights before the historic date of April 12th 1961, when Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. The Americans had first launched fruit flies (of all things) on board a captured German V2 rocket in February 1947. The rocket achieved 68 miles high that qualified it for space travel before successfully parachuting back to Earth. In 1949 Albert, a Rhesus monkey, was blasted into space and this time reached 83 miles high. Unfortunately the parachute failed to deploy and Albert hit the ground at over 1,300 miles an hour.

On January 31st 1961, Ham the Chimp was launched in a Mercury capsule aboard a Redstone missile. Ham had been trained to pull levers to receive rewards of banana pellets and avoid electric shocks delivered through electrodes fitted to his feet. His flight demonstrated the ability to perform tasks during space flight (and avoid getting electrocuted). Three months later, on May 5th 1961, the United States sent Alan Shepard into space to become the first American in space.

Other animals have been on further journeys. On September 14th 1968 the Russians launched a tortoise (what!) around the Moon and in 1969 two bullfrogs were launched on a one-way mission into deep space to study the effects of space motion sickness. The crew of Apollo 17 carried five mice to the Moon and back although one died and was ‘ceremonially buried’ in space – via the toilet waste dump.

Since then a whole menagerie of animals have been in space. From silk worms to chickens’ eggs and Madagascar hissing cockroaches to South African flat rock scorpions. But my favourite has to be on June 28, 2007 when Bigelow Aerospace launched Mexican jumping beans into space. What in God’s name did they expect to discover from that?!

So take a minute to salute the brave unsung heroes who weren’t given the choice but instead were chosen to boldly go where no man had gone before.

Visit Ken Campbell’s website for more information and to see when the ISS Satellite will be going over next. 
www.kencampbell.info