This is Félicette, a stray cat that became the first feline launched into space on 18 October 1963, as part of the French space program. Weighing just five and a half pounds, she was chosen for her calmness and resilience, making her the perfect candidate for the mission.
by Suspicious-Slip248
23 Comments
Really wanted to test that “always land on their feet” thing, huh?
cats are immortal tbh, the ultimate survivors
In October 1963, a black-and-white stray from Paris named Félicette made history as the first and only cat to travel to space. Selected by French scientists for her calm demeanor, she soared 154 kilometers above Earth on a suborbital flight and returned safely, securing her place in space exploration history.
Yet Félicette’s story is as tragic as it is groundbreaking. Just two months after her successful mission, she was euthanized so researchers could study the effects of space travel on her body. Her sacrifice yielded little scientific insight, and for decades, her name faded into obscurity.
That changed in 2019, when a statue was unveiled in her honor at the International Space University in Strasbourg, depicting her gazing toward the stars, a long-overdue tribute to a small cat who helped expand humanity’s reach beyond Earth.
They euthanized her two years later to study her short stay in space’s effect on her brain, which makes no sense… At this point humans were already in space.
Unpurrturbed, she always was
Félicette survived the space flight but was euthanized two months after the launch so that scientists could perform a necropsy to examine her brain.
Félicette doesn’t get talked about enough in space history. She truly earned her place among the early space pioneers.
That poor kitty had no idea she’d never return.
She was also the inspiration, I believe, for a series of “Space Cat” books I lived to read when I was in elementary school
Relief she came back alive
Chosen for her calmness, resilience and inability to refuse or have any say in the matter, they left that part out
And after she came back unharmed the bastards cut her up to check her brain.
I don’t understand why they would launch a cat instead of a lab mouse or something
Fly high, Felicette.
Vuela alto, Felicette.
Is this cat still alive??
“We choose to go to space not because it is easy, but because i fits”
And people think all scientists, researchers are brilliant. Some are and some are not.
1) Interesting.
2) Fuck them for killing her needlessly.
One day you’re just a kitty chilling on the streets and the next you’re in orbit.
Between the gutter and the stars.
There’s a really good French GSM wine named Felicette with a cat in a spacesuit on its label. It’s a solid daily drinker. It was the first time I heard of her.
I love how cute and content she looks.
How calm was this cat at Max-Q?
probably experienced more stressful things on the streets