The first animals in space: Russian dogs, French cats and US monkeys

Afterwards, space authorities decided not to continue using large animals for space experiments because it wasn’t worth it – the data was too unreliable.

But other countries such as the United States and Russia had already sent many animals into space, and continued to do so – and for some of them it was a one-way trip. From dogs and cats to fish and guinea pigs, we take a look at the role of animals in space exploration.

Dogs

Laika was the first dog, and the first animal, to orbit the Earth. A stray dog found on a Moscow street, she flew with the Sputnik 2 rocket on November 3, 1957 but died hours into the flight.

“Of course we knew she was destined to die on the flight, since there was no way to get her back – this wasn’t possible at the time,” Russian biologist Adilya Kotovskaya, the dog’s trainer, was quoted as saying in a Phys.org report commemorating the 60th anniversary of the dog’s space journey last year.

“I asked her to forgive us and I even cried as I stroked her for the last time.”

They had hoped Laika would survive for up to 10 days but she died of panic, overheating and dehydration after a few hours.