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The tiny astronauts were loaded on to an American V2 rocket along with some corn seeds, and blasted into space in July 1946. They were used to test the effects of exposure to radiation at high altitudes. Fruit flies are a lab favorite. Three-quarters of known human disease genes have a match in the genetic code of fruit flies. They also go to sleep every night, react in a similar way to general anaesthetics and, best of all, reproduce very quickly. You can have a whole new generation in a fortnight. Space is defined as starting at an altitude of 62 miles. After fruit flies, we sent first moss, then monkeys. The first monkey in space was Albert II in 1949, reaching 83 miles. His predecessor, Albert I, had suffocated to death a year earlier, before reaching the 62-mile barrier. Unfortunately, Albert II also died, when the parachute on his capsule failed on landing. It took until 1951 for a monkey to return safely from space, when Albert VI and his eleven mice companions managed it (although he died two hours later). Generally, pioneering space monkeys were not distinguished by their longevity, with the honorable exception of Baker, the squirrel monkey, who survived his 1959 mission by twenty-five years. The Russians preferred dogs. The first animal in orbit was Laika onSputnik 2 (1957), who died of heat stress during the flight. At least ten more dogs were launched into space before the first man, Yuri Gagarin, made it up there in 1961. Six of the dogs survived. The Russians also sent the first animal into deep space in 1968. It was a Horsefield’s tortoise, and it became the first living creature to orbit the moon (as well as the world’s fastest tortoise).
SPACE ISN’T REMOTE AT ALL. IT’S ONLY AN HOUR’S DRIVE AWAY IF YOUR CAR COULD GO STRAIGHT UPWARDS. FREDHOYLER
Other animals in space have included chimps (who all survived), guinea pigs, frogs, rats, cats, wasps, beetles, spiders, and a very hardy fish called the mummichog. The first Japanese animals in space were ten newts in 1985. The only survivors of theColumbia space-shuttle disaster in 2003 were some nematode worms from the shuttle’s lab found among the debris. Which has the most neck bones: a mouse or a giraffe? They both have seven neck vertebrae, as do all mammals except for manatees and sloths. Because two-toed sloths have only six neck vertebrae, they find it hard to turn their heads. Birds, who need to turn their heads a lot to preen, have many more neck vertebrae than mammals. Owls have fourteen; ducks, sixteen; but the record holder is the mute swan, with twenty-five.