SPACE — On October 18, 1963, a French cat named Felicette became the first and only cat to travel into space. Felicette was launched on a Véronique AG1 rocket and flew almost 157 kilometers above Earth.
Reporting from Space, the cat had experienced a state of weightlessness. The rocket it was on soared to six times the speed of sound.
Fifteen minutes later, Felicette returned safely to Earth by parachuting in her small space capsule. The cat returned to Earth alive and well.
Cats going into space was a new achievement at that time. Previously, there were dogs, monkeys and chimpanzees who flew into space in the 1960s. No cat has gone to space yet.
Felicette was one of 14 cats selected by the French space program to undergo space flight training. France’s participation in the program was a major milestone for France. France has the third civilian space agency in the world (after the US and the Soviet Union). Felicette’s mission helped bring France into the space race.
The training uses the same type of centrifuge that human astronauts use during pre-flight training. The cats also had electrodes implanted in their brains so scientists could monitor their neurological activity.
It was Felicette who was chosen for the mission, because of her calm nature. However, there are also reports that other cats are overweight.
Other reports say that Felicette was actually a spare cat for another cat named Félix, who ran away on the day of her flight.
To commemorate this event, a bronze statue of Félicette has now been erected in her hometown of Paris, France. The statue was erected from donations.
Donors who donated the most had their names listed on a plaque near the statue and were given a small replica of the statue.
2023-10-28 08:00:00
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