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First ever Animal In Space
The first ever animal in space were fruit flies. The United States put fruit flies aboard captured German V-2 rockets to study radiation exposure at high altitudes. In 3 minutes and 10 seconds, the fruit flies reached a distance of 68 miles. -
Albert I
A V-2 Blossom was launched into space from White Sands, New Mexico. On this rocket was Albert I, a rhesus monkey. Because not many people knew about this, Albert I is not very well known. -
Albert II
A second V-2 flight carrying a live Air Force Aeromedical Laboratory monkey, Albert II, rose an altitude of 83 miles. However the monkey died on impact. -
Albert IV
The last V-2 monkey flight was launched at White Sands, New Mexico. Albert IV, a rhesus monkey attached to monitoring instruments, was the payload. It was a successful flight, with no effects on the monkey until impact, when it died. -
Dezik and Tsygan
Dezik and Tsygan ("Gypsy") were two dogs from the Soviets.. These were the first 2 dogs ever to go into space. They were successfully retrieved. I -
Yorick and 11 mice
A monkey named Yorick and 11 mice were recovered after an missile flight of 236,000 feet at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico. Yorick got a fair amount of press as the first monkey to live through a space flight. -
Patricia, Mike, Mildred, and Albert
Two Philippine monkeys, Patricia and Mike, were enclosed in an Aerobee nose section at Holloman Air Force Base. Fired 36 miles up at a speed of 2000 mph, these two monkeys were the first primates to reach such a high altitude. Also on this flight were two white mice, Mildred and Albert. -
Laika
Sputnik 2 blasted into Earth orbit with a dog named Laika aboard. Laika, which is Russian for "Husky" or "Barker," had the real name of Kudryavka ("Little Curly"). She was a mutt who died 2 hours after being in orbit. -
Gordo
Gordo, a squirrel monkey, was sent up at 600 miles high in a Jupiter rocket. Gordo's capsule was never found in the Atlantic Ocean. He died on splashdown when a flotation mechanism failed, but Navy doctors said signals on his respiration and heartbeat proved humans could withstand a similar trip. -
Able and Baker
Able, an American-born rhesus monkey, and Baker, a South American squirrel monkey, were sent aboard an Army Jupiter missile. Launched in the nose cone, the two animals were carried to a 300-mile altitude, and both were recovered unharmed. -
Sam
Sam, a rhesus monkey, was one of the most well known monkeys of the space program. His name was an acronym for the U.S. Air Force S chool of A viation M edicine at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas. After attaining an altitude of 51 miles, the spacecraft landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean. Sam was recovered, several hours later, with no ill effects from his journey. -
Miss Sam
Miss Sam, another rhesus monkey was launched into space for another test of the LES. The Mercury capsule attained a velocity of 1800 mph and an altitude of 9 miles. After landing in the Atlantic Ocean 10.8 miles downrange from the launch site, Miss Sam was also retrieved in overall good condition. -
Ham
Ham, whose name was an acronym for H olloman A ero M ed, became the first chimpanzee in space, aboard the Mercury Redstone rocket on a sub-orbital flight. The spacecraft carrying Ham reached an altitude of 157 miles and a speed of 5857 mph and landed 422 miles downrange -
Enos
Enos became the first chimp to orbit the earth on November 29, 1961, aboard a Mercury Atlas rocket. His mission concluded the testing for a human orbital flight, achieved by John Glenn on February 20, 1962. -
Felix
French scientists launched the first cat into space on a Veronique AGI sounding rocket No. 47. The cat, named Felix, was successfully retrieved after a parachute descent, but a second feline flight on October 24 ran into difficulties that prevented recovery. -
Mixture of living things
The year 1968 saw the U.S.S.R. turn once again to the animal kingdom for the first passengers of their new, manned moon ship. The first successful Zond ("probe") launch was on September 15, 1968, when Zond 5 was launched. A biological payload of turtles, wine flies, mealworms, plants, seeds, bacteria, and other living matter was included in the flight.
