09. Will our pets need to wear special gear such as cat or dog spacesuits, including oxygen helmets, in order to live in space? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

On Earth all animals, including humans, are protected by the environment from harsh conditions of temperatures, solar wind events, and radiation that exist in outer space. In addition, extreme g-forces can be exerted during the lift off and ascent to space. Therefore it becomes important to protect and shield all forms of life traveling to space, including pets. Early spaceflight experiments that carried animals into space did use then-existing technologies to furbish appropriate spacesuits. An example of this is illustrated here with cats in different spacesuits. The spacesuits shown here were only for space environment within the spacecrafts and hence do not include oxygen helmets, but if there is any extra vehicular activity involved, then animals would be required to wear them. Cats in different simulated spacesuit designs. Source: NASA Archive

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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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