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Animal Astronauts A listing of the animals that paved the way for human space flight Part 3

The third part of our Animal Astronaut listing covers all biological suborbital and orbital test flights between April 12, 1961 - the date of the first human space flight and August 30, 1983 - the first time animals were carried on the Space Shuttle.

Click here to return to part 2.

November 10, 1961 Goliath

Atlas E Research and development test # 16 Squirrel monkey Goliath died in the explosion of an Atlas E ICBM, 15 seconds after launch. The rocket was launched from Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. There is a First Day Letter Cover (picture) of the flight but no picture of the animal.

December 20, 1961 Scatback

Atlas E Research and development test # 18 Rhesus monkey Scatback reached an altitude of 1,800 km on an Atlas E ICBM, launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket overshot the target area and due to a failing radio beacon, the return capsule could not be located and Scatback was declared "lost at sea." There is a First Day Letter Cover (picture) of the flight but no picture of the animal.

November 29, 1961 Enos

Mercury-Atlas 5 In a rehersal of the manned flight of Mercury Atlas 6, chimpanzee Enos performed two orbits and returned safely. Enos was the first Chimanzee in orbit and the first animal launched by the US to reach orbit.

October 15, 1962 Castor

Veronique Life Science mission 2 Rat Castor, launched in a French Véronique rocket from Hammaguira, Algeria reached an altitude of 120 km. The cabin with the rat landed safely, but it took 75 minutes to locatet it and the rat soon died of heat stroke. There is no authentic picture of the animal (the picture used here shows Hector, France's first space rat).

October 18, 1962 Pollux

Veronique Life Science mission 3 Rat Pollux, launched in a French Véronique rocket from Hammaguira, Algeria reached an altitude of 110 km. Signal was lost after 135 seconds and the return capsule was never recovered. There is no authentic picture of the animal (the picture used here shows Hector, France's first space rat).

October 18, 1963 Félicette

Veronique Life Science mission 4 Launched from Hammaguira, Algeria in a French Véronique rocket, Félicette, the first cat in space reached an altitude of 155 km. Rumors about Félicette being a replacement for a cat named Félix, that ran away are unsubstantiated.

October 24, 1963 Cat

Veronique Life Science mission 5 An unnamed cat died, when a French Véronique rocket launched from Hammaguira, Algeria exploded and crashed after reaching an altitude of 88 km.

July 19, 1964 Mice

T-7 Life Science Biological Mission 1 A Chinese T-7 rocket with mice on board, launched from Shijiedu, China reached an altitude of 70 km. There are no pictures of the animals.

June 1, 1965 Mice

T-7 Life Science Biological Mission 2 A Chinese T-7 rocket with mice on board, launched from Shijiedu, China reached an altitude of 70 km. There are no pictures of the animals.

June 5, 1965 Mice

T-7 Life Science Biological Mission 3 A Chinese T-7 rocket with mice on board, launched from Shijiedu, China reached an altitude of 70 km. There are no pictures of the animals.

February 22, 1966 Veterok & Ugolyok

Cosmos 110 Dogs Veterok and Ugolyok performed a 22 day flight on board of the Soviet satellite Cosmos 110. They safely landed on March 16. The dogs spent more time in space than any human at that time and still hold the record for the longest space flight by dogs.

July 14, 1966 Xiao Bao

T-7 Life Science Biological Mission 4 Dog Xiao Bao, launched from Shijiedu, China reached an altitude of 100 km and was recovered safely. There are a few pictures of the dogs, but without telling which one.

July 28, 1966 Shan Shan

T-7 Life Science Biological Mission 5 Dog Shan Shan, launched from Shijiedu, China reached an altitude of 100 km and was recovered safely. There are a few pictures of the dogs, but without telling which one.

December 14, 1966 Parasitoid Wasps, Flour Beetles

Biosat 1 NASA's Biosatellite 1 carried fruit flies, parasitic wasps, flour beetles and frog eggs, along with bacteria, amoebae, plants and fungi. Return and recovery of the satellite failed.

March 7, 1967 Martine

FU-147 Biological mission 1 Launched from Hammaguira, Algeria in a French Vesta rocket, pig-tailed monkey Martine reached an altitude of 243 km and was recovered safely.

March 13, 1967 Pierette

FU-147 Biological mission 2 Launched from Hammaguira, Algeria in a French Vesta rocket, pig-tailed monkey Pierette reached an altitude of 234 km and was recovered safely.

April 11, 1967 Belisario

Yarará Biological Test A rat named Belisario atop an Argentinian Yarará artillery missile was launched from from Cordoba military range and was recovered successfully. The rat experienced 20 g and reached an altitude of 3,200 meters.

May 1967 - 1969 Celedonio et al.

Orion II Biological Tests An article in Foro San Martin lists the names of other Argentinian rats launched with sounding rockets. A rat named Celedonio atop an Orion II rocket was launched from from El Chamical military range on May 19, 1967. Celedonio reached an altitude of 80 km, but died due to a parachute failure. Other rats were named Dalila, Alfa, Gamma, Alejo, Aurelio, Anastasio, Braulio, Benito, Cipriano and Coco, without giving dates or rocket types. None of them survived their flights. There are no pictures of the animals.

September 7, 1967 Parasitoid Wasps, Flour Beetles

Biosat 2 NASA's Biosatellite 2 carried fruit flies, parasitic wasps, flour beetles and frog eggs, along with bacteria, amoebae, plants and fungi. It was recovered after 26 days in space.

December 5, 1967 White Rat

White rat payload Biological mission An Aerobee rocket, launched from Wallops Island, Virginia, took a white rat to an altitude of 137 km. There were four other non-specified "biological missions" using Aerobee rockets on September 28, 1965, June 24, 1968, November 21, 1968 and May 15, 1969.

September 14, 1968 Two Tortoises

Zond 5 The Soviet probe was the first to circle the moon and to return to Earth. On board were two tortoises, mealworms, wine flies, plants, and other lifeforms, which became the first living beings to leave Earth orbit and to travel around the moon. After a splash down in the Indian Ocean on September 21, the animals were recovered alive but were dissected shortly after.

September 14, 1968 Two Tortoises

Zond 6 Zond 6 carried out a mission similar to Zond 5 with similar animals and plants on board. During the return from the Moon, the cabin depressurized due to a faulty valve, killing all specimen on board.

June 29, 1969 Bonny

Biosat 3 NASA's Biosatellite 3 carried a pig-tailed monkey named Bonny. The flight was supposed to last 30 days, but was cut short after eight and a half days due to the monkey's deteriorating health. Bonny was recovered alive on July 7, but died the next day.

December 23, 1969 Juan

Operación Navidad Launched from the CELPA Base in Argentina, cai monkey Juan on board a Canopus 2 rocket reached an altitude of 82 km and was recovered safely. Encyclopedia Astronautica reports the altitude as 150 km, which would make Argentina the fifth country to send an animal into space.

February 1, 1970 Cleopatra

Panther X-1 Test Launched from the CELPA Base in Argentina, cai monkey Cleopatra on board a Panther X-1 rocket reached an altitude of 20 km but died due to parachute failure. Spanish Wikipedia reports, that "...Other monkeys were launched throughout that year and successfully recovered." There are no pictures of the animals.

November 9, 1970 Two Bullfrogs

OFO 1 NASA's Orbiting Frog Otolith (OFO) carried two bullfrogs to study the effects of weightlessness on the frog's delicate inner ear balance mechanism, called Otolith. Experiments ran for seven days, until the the onboard battery failed.

April 16, 1972 Roundworms

Apollo 16 NASA's Apollo 16 carried samples of Nematode. While the animals on board of the Soviet probes Zond 5 and Zond 6 "only" did a circumlunar flight, the roundworms were the first non-human living beings in moon orbit.

April 16, 1972 Five Pocket Mice

Apollo 17 NASA's Apollo 17 carried five Pocket Mice on a lunar voyage. One of the mice died during the flight, the others were returned safely. Officially, the mice carried the designations A3326, A3400, A3305, A3356 and A 3352. Unofficially, the astronauts named them Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum and Phooney.

July 28, 1973 Arabella & Anita Mice, Mummichog

Skylab 3 In addition to six pocket mice and the first fish in space (two Mummichogs), Skylab 3 carried two Garden Spiders named Arabella and Anita, which built the first spider web in space. The spiders did not survive the flight, but they may just have outlived their biological lifespan on the station. Anita died after 45 days and Arabella was found dead after landing.

October 31, 1973 Rats and Tortoises

Bion 1 The first in a series of Soviet biosatellites carried several dozen male rats, six Russian tortoises, a mushroom bed, flour beetles in various stages of their life cycle, and living bacterial spores. It returned to Earth after 21 days and was recovered on November 22, 1973.

November 16, 1973 Mummichog

Skylab 4 Skylab 3 carried a container with two adult Mummichogs and six eggs. When hatched, the young fish had no problem adjusting to their zero gravity environment. Those were the first animals born in space.

October 20, 1974 Albino Rats

Bion 2 The Soviet biosatellite carried albino rats for joint research between Czechoslovakia, Romania and Soviet Union. It returned to Earth after 22 days and was recovered on November 12, 1974.

July 15, 1975 Mummichog

Apollo ASTP As part of the joint USA/USSR Soyuz-Apollo flight, the Apollo space craft carried a container with Mummichogs.

November 17, 1975 Tortoises, Fruit Flies

Soyuz 20 The manned space craft Soyuz 20 carried turtles, flies, seeds and plant specimen, to conduct research parallel to the similar samples on board of Bion 3, which was launched one week later. Soyuz 20 docked with the Salyut_4. When the craft returned on February 16, 1976, the turtles had set a 90.5-day long duration record for animals.

November 25, 1975 Tortoises, Rats

Bion 3 The Soviet biosatellite carried rats, tortoises and other specimen for experiments including artificial gravity created by a centrifuge. It conducted joint research between France, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Soviet Union and the United States. It returned to Earth after 20 days and was recovered on December 15, 1975.

June 22, 1976 Tortoises, Zebra Fish

Salyut 5 The Soviet space station was launched with Tortoises, Zebra Fish on board. Biological experiments were carried out by the crews of Soyuz 21 (July 6 - August 24, 1976) and Soyuz 24 (February 7 - February 25, 1977). All specimen were returned by Soyuz 24. There was no confirmation if the animals returned in February 25, 1977 were the same launched in June 1976 or if there have been replacements during the flights of Soyuz 21, 22, 23 and 24.

August 3, 1977 Albino Rats

Bion 4 The Soviet biosatellite carried albino rats for joint research between Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Soviet Union and the United States. It returned to Earth after 19.5 days and was recovered on August 22, 1977.

February 25, 1979 Quail Eggs

Soyuz 32 The Soviet space ship took V._Lyakhov and V. Ryumin on a long duration mission to the Salyut 6 space station. Part of the experiments was the first (failed) attempt to hatch quail from fertilized eggs.

September 29, 1979 Albino Rats Quail Eggs

Bion 5 The Soviet biosatellite carried albino rats for joint research between Czechoslovakia, East Germany, France, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the United States. It also carried an incubator for quail eggs (picture). The satellite returned to Earth after 18.5 days and was recovered on October 14, 1979.

The fourth part of our Animal Astronaut listing starts with the first animals carried on the Space Shuttle on August 30, 1983. It lists selected Space Shuttle missions and all other biological missions that were not part of the Space Shuttle and/or ISS program. Space Shuttle and ISS experiments are listed separately.

Click here to move on to part 4.

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