How hero astronaut animals paved the road to modern space travel

For nearly 80 years, some very unlikely astronauts have boldly gone where no fruit fly, dog, monkey or tortoise had gone before.Long before humans hit the heavens, animals were the original space pioneers, helping scientists figure out whether living creatures could survive radiation, weightlessness and other hazards waiting beyond our atmosphere.And they’re still at it.Rats, mice, insects and sea creatures are living at the International Space Station now.The first buzz-worthy critters to get their wings were fruit flies.

In 1947, America launched them aboard a V-2 rocket 68 miles above Earth to study the effects of radiation.Their capsule parachuted home, and ever fly survived.In 1949, Albert II, a rhesus monkey, became the first mammal in space.

He survived the flight but died when his parachute failed.Then the Soviets unleashed the space dogs.Tsygan and Dezik became the first canines to reach space and return safely in 1951.Six years later, Moscow stray Laika became the first animal to orbit Earth aboard Sputnik 2.

Sadly, it was a one-way trip.The technology to bring her home did not exist, and she died within hours.America fired back in 1958 with Gordo, a squirrel monkey who survived launch, weightlessness and reentry — only for his parachute to fail.

His capsule vanished into the Atlantic.The following year, Miss Able and Miss Baker became the first monkeys to survive spaceflight.

Able died four days later, but Baker lived until 1984 and became a beloved celebrity at Alabama’s US Space and Rocket Center, where visitors still leave bananas on her grave.In 1960, Soviet dogs Belka and Strelka became the first animals to orbit Earth and make it back safely.Strelka later had puppies, including Pushinka, who Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave to President John F.

Kennedy’s daughter Caroline.Next came Ham, an American chimpanzee trained to operate levers during flight.His 1961 mission proved a passenger could think and perform tasks in space, helping...