Having reached a height of 109km in just over 3 minutes, the capsule carrying the flies was ejected and safely parachuted back to Earth, its cargo intact and alive. ![]() In 1947, a cargo of fruit flies was loaded aboard a US-launched V-2 rocket in order to test the effects of radiation at high altitude. Fruit flies were the first animals to be launched into space.Credit: Jorge GarcÍa/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images. The first animal in space A pair of fruit flies dance prior to mating. In this seemingly unrelenting Space Race, neither side showed a hint of moral difficulty in sending their respective menageries into orbit, to boldly go where no human had gone before.īelow we've taken a look at some of the most notable zoological astronauts that paved the way for humanity's journey beyond Earth. BBC Wildlife: 10 animals that have been to spaceĭuring the two decades before Armstrong and Aldrin stepped onto the Moon, as the earliest crafts set out to probe and finally escape Earth’s atmosphere, both the US and the USSR heavily deployed members of the animal kingdom as they competed for domination of the heavens. ![]() What are the biggest dangers on the International Space Station?.Read more fascinating facts about spaceflight: ![]() Many of us will have heard of Laika the dog, or even Belka and Strelka, her canine comrades, but there have been many more animals involved in the history of spaceflight, some more unusual than you might think. Before any astronauts and cosmonauts were strapped into their seats, these unwitting animal test pilots were at the vanguard, tasked with revealing the conditions and effects of travel beyond Earth. From monkeys to mice and frogs to fruit flies, animals have a longer history of space travel than humans.
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