Whenever there is talk of space travel, most people take the name of Neel Armstrong or Yuri Gagarin. But very few people know that before humans, many innocent creatures of the earth were sent on the journey of space. Scientists first sending animals into space and tested whether life is possible there or not, so that human beings can be prepared for a safe space trip in future.
The stories of these organisms are not only scientific experiments, but are full of sacrifice and unique achievements. When someone stepped into the orbit, someone reached the orbit of the moon and returned. Let’s know about the special creatures that have shown the path of space before humans.
In 1957, the Soviet Union sent a stray bitch ‘Laika’ into the Earth’s orbit under the ‘Sputnik-2’ mission. It was the first creature to enter the orbit. Although she could not return to the earth, her visit proved that there was a possibility of life outside the earth. Even today "First martyr of space" Is remembered as
In 1949, the US sent the Rhesus Makak breed monkey ‘Albert II’ to space. He reached an altitude of 134 km and completed the suborbital flight. He did not survive due to technical disturbances in return, but played a big role in understanding radiation and biological effects.
In 1963, France sent a cat named ‘Feliceet’ into space for neurological research. She returned to safe earth and remained part of many experiments even further. Felicate is also known as “Astrocat” today.
In 1968, turtles were sent with the Zond 5 mission of the Soviet Union. These were the first creatures who revolved around the moon and returned to safe earth. This experiment strengthened the foundation of future moon missions.
The purpose of sending these micro -organisms into space was to know how they behave in microgravity. The way of swimming, balanced and optimizing themselves helped scientists to understand the life without gravity.
In 1973, two spiders on the Skylab 3 mission – Ana and Abigail – were sent to understand their behavior in micrograti. Surprisingly, he proved the adaptation of life balanced and round webs in space.
Rats were repeatedly sent in space operations as their genetic system matches humans a lot. Long -term missions were prepared by looking at their bodies on bones, muscles and immune systems in microgravity.
