01. Is it possible for animals to go to space? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

Yes, in fact animals were the first living beings to fly in space. In the early days of spaceflight people did not know how the human body would be affected by the lack of gravity and normal atmosphere. New methods and technologies were required to overcome such difficulties. Such technologies were first tried out on animals such as dogs, monkeys and chimpanzees sent into space on sub-orbital flights. Check out some of the firsts associated with this: Squirrel monkey "Baker" rode a Jupiter IRBM into space and back in1959. Source: US Army- Redstone Arsenal - history websitehttp://www.redstone.army.mil/history/archives/abma_50s/baker_01.jpgThe first living things intentionally sent up in space were some fruit flies. They flew in a US V-2 rocket in 1940 to test the effects of radiation in outer space. The first primates ever fired to an altitude near space were monkeys named Albert 1 and Albert 2 in 1949. The first living being to be placed in an orbit in space was Laika, a Russian dog who flew in Sputnik 2 in 1957.

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Answer provided by Bijal Thakore

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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