In 1963, a cat was launched into space for the first time. To this day, Félicette is the only cat to have survived a trip to space. A bronze statue in her likeness was created to honor her at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France.
Félicette was a tuxedo cat, and she was part of a 15-minute mission in 1963. She wasn’t the only animal to visit space. The United States sent a dog named Laika into space in 1957, and the former USSR a chimpanzee named Ham in 1961. These missions were meant to study the effects of microgravity on mammals.
Before Félicette, France had only sent rats to space. Researchers at the Centre d’Enseignement et de Recherches de Médecine Aéronautique (CERMA) recruited 14 cats, including Félicette, into an intense training program. She was a stray cat found wandering the streets of Paris.
The cats were put into small containers for long periods of time to test their reactions to being in confined spaces. They were also spun around in a centrifuge to simulate lift-off and re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Six cats moved on to the next stage of training. In the end, Félicette was the one they chose for the mission.
She was launched from a base in the Sahara Desert on October 18, 1963, and reached an altitude of 100 miles above Earth. The scientists kept a close eye on her throughout the entire 15-minute journey. A series of electrodes had been implanted on her body so that they could monitor her breathing and heart rate.
Soon enough, Félicette was safely back on the ground. She was euthanized a few months after her return so that the research team could analyze her brain.
They later admitted that they learned nothing useful from the post-mortem examination. No more cats flew into space after that, and France never launched their own human astronauts.
In 2017, Matthew Serge Guy debuted his Kickstarter campaign. The purpose of the campaign was to acknowledge the feline’s contributions to space.
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Ham the chimpanzee was eulogized upon his death, and his remains were buried at the International Space Hall of Fame. Furthermore, at least two monuments have been constructed in remembrance of Laika the dog. But Félicette had not yet been recognized.
It took two years of campaigning, but a five-foot-tall bronze statue of Félicette now sits in the International Space University. More than 1,100 people donated $57,000 to have the piece made.
The statue was designed by a sculptor named Gill Parker and depicts Félicette perched on top of planet Earth, gazing up at the skies. It was unveiled on December 18, 2019, as part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the Master of Space Studies program at the university.
It might be a long time before we ever see another cat in space!
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
