Animal Astronauts since the beginning
Posted on : 16-08-2009 | By : admin | In : predictions & theories
Tags: Albina, American, animal astronauts, Belka, Chernushka, explore, Gordo, Laika, Russian, Sam, scientists, Space dogs, space mission, Sputnik, Strelka, Tsyganka, weightlessness, Zvezdochka
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In the initial days, weightlessness was one important discovery but this posed a major problem because how would man explore space if he had to counter this problem. And so, the questions asked were whether human beings would be able to survive long periods of being weightless, and what the effects of having been in a situation of prolonged weightlessness would be, one of the main effects being that of stress. Thus, American and Russian scientists decided to use animal astronauts for their experiments, to see if a living being could go into space and come back alive and unharmed.
The first men and women who travelled in space in the 1960s could do so only because animal astronauts had been sent into space successfully. The Soviets sent 9 dogs, called Space Dogs, to test the efficacy of spacesuits in unpressurized cabins. For the Suborbital flights, Albina and Tsyganka, two Space Dogs were blasted to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of 53 miles. They were ejected and came safely down to Earth in their ejection seats. The altitude to which these Space Dogs was sent was slowly increased till in 1957, Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2 were launched.
Laika, a Space Dog was launched by the Soviets in Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957. Laika, meaning ‘Barker’ in Russian, was the very first living creature in Space. The way back had not yet been calculated or worked out, and Laika died in Space. Belka (meaning ‘Squirrel’) and Strelka (meaning ‘Little Arrow’), two dogs, were launched into Space in Sputnik 5 on August 19, 1960. Accompanying them were 40 mice, 2 rats and a number of plants. On March 9, 1961, Sputnik 9 carried Chernushka (‘Blackie’) for a one orbit mission. A dummy cosmonaut, some mice and a guinea pig were Chernushka’s companions. Sputnik 10 on March 25, 1961 carried Zvezdochka (‘Little Star’) into Space on a one orbit mission. Once again a dummy cosmonaut was sent. Gordo was sent to space by the American army. This flight was an information flight as it provided useful data to the Army and Navy in their medical research on manned Space flights and this little squirrel monkey made it possible.
Gordo’s flight was successful, and there were no adverse effects, but there was a flight malfunction and Gordo did not return to Earth. A rhesus monkey, Sam was launched into Space on December 4 1959. This mission was to test equipment that would be used in the manned flights of the future. It was also to test the effects of high acceleration. This was an extremely successful launch and Sam returned to Earth happily to be reunited with Miss Sam.
On January 21 1960, Miss Sam, a 6 pound rhesus monkey went into Space. The flight was used to test the escape system that would be used in manned flights. She too returned to Earth after a successful flight. Ham, the Chimp, went into Space on MERCURY-REDSTONE 2, on 31st January, 1961. This flight was primarily to test the operational capabilities of the Mercury capsule’s systems in Space.
