Human space travel has been incremental, with NASA and the Russian space program sending myriad other animals into orbit first. While monkeys might get the cred for being the first creatures in space, they’re actually not.
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00:00Human space travel has been incremental, with NASA and the Russian space program sending
00:07myriad other animals into orbit first.
00:10Monkeys might get the credit for being the first creatures in space, but they're not.
00:14That accolade actually goes to fruit flies, and it happened in 1947.
00:17However, two years later in 1949, a rhesus monkey named Albert II became the first mammal
00:23and primate to exit the atmosphere.
00:25He was launched aboard a V2 rocket and traveled up 83 miles.
00:29Albert did not survive the mission, sadly, crashing after a parachute failed to open.
00:33Mice were the next animals to go up, and ever since, they have had a storied relationship
00:37living in orbit.
00:38In fact, mice adapt quickly to life aboard the International Space Station, with studies
00:42documenting their abilities in microgravity.
00:44After mice came dogs, with Soviet pooch Laika being the most famous in 1957.
00:49She was the first animal to orbit the Earth in its entirety.
00:52However, like most of the first animals in space, she met her end during the mission.
00:57After that, myriad others took to orbit, including tortoises, and even frogs, spiders, fish,
01:01and more.
01:02With Ham the chimpanzee being the first great ape to go into space in 1961, shortly before
01:07the first human did the same.