Fifty Years of Animals in Space

TIME Magazine (July 31, Thursday, 2008)

On the 50th anniversary of NASA's founding, a small photo tribute to the unsung, furry pioneers who journeyed into orbit, paving the way for human spaceflight.

The First

In 1957, a Soviet dog named Laika became the first living creature to orbit the Earth. Originally a stray, Laika was selected over two other trainees. Though she died a few hours after launch, her trip proved that a living passenger could survive being launched into orbit and endure weightlessness.

Space Dogs

Handlers at the Soviet Academy of Sciences show off some of the dogs in their space program. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Russians launched missions that included passenger slots for at least 57 dogs. The number of animals that actually reached space is smaller, as several dogs went more than once.

Little Guy

A squirrel monkey, his body swathed in protective silicon rubber padding, is strapped into a capsule as part of a training exercise for spaceflight. A comrade of his known as Gordo was similarly secured for a 1958 fifteen-minute flight that ascended to a height of 310 miles. Though it is believed that Gordo survived the entirety of his flight, the parachute on his craft failed to open and he and his capsule were lost at sea.

Able and Baker

The first two monkeys to survive their trip into space are presented at a NASA press conference in 1959. Able, on the left, a seven-pound rhesus monkey, and Baker, an 11-ounce squirrel monkey from Peru, withstood forces 38 times the normal pull of gravity and endured weightlessness for about 9 minutes during their historic flight. Able died four days after returning to earth during a relatively simple surgery to remove an infected electrode. Baker lived until 1984.

Chimp in Training

In early 1961, just a few months before Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin launched into orbit, NASA was using chimps to help iron out the kinks in its Mercury program. Approximately 20 of them were trained at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico on equipment simulating space flight, like the rocket sled, above.

Timed Task

The chimps in the Holloman training program were taught how to do simple tasks in response to electric lights and sounds. Jim, the chimp whose efforts are photographed here, has made a mistake: the experiment calls for him to hit the odd shape, in this case, the circle in the middle.

Capsule Position

The chimps in the Holloman program were prepared for launch in a Mercury capsule, similar to the one above.

In Space

Two chimps from the Holloman program were successfully launched into orbit. A chimp named Ham, whose journey lasted 16 minutes and 59 seconds, took off in January 1961. His comrade, Enos, blasted off ten months later, above, for a journey that circled the Earth two times.

Safe Return

After his brief journey into orbit, Ham splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and he and his capsule were recovered by a rescue ship. He only suffered a bruised nose during his flight.

Manned Space Flight

Once Ham and Enos had completed their journeys, NASA felt ready to send a human into orbit. On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to circle the Earth.

~5-Cat Style