Interstellar Cats

Whereas the first dog in space, Laika, is widely known few people know about the feline counterpart: Felix – the first cat in space.

Felix was a Paris street cat, black and white, but unfortunately, no references are mentioned as to the breed. The only fact available about his past is that he was apparently picked up from an animal shelter in the Paris neighbourhood of Belleville together with a number of other cats by the French Space Authority CNES in around1962. On October 18, 1963, he was strapped into a Veronique AG1 rocket at the French rocket-launch facility Hammaguir in Algeria and blasted into the great beyond.

Before taking off, Felix had been connected to computers with various electrodes attached to his body. When the rocket left the Earth’s atmosphere it separated the nose-con, containing Felix, which continued 120 miles into space. The capsule then returned to Earth and with the help of a parachute, Felix landed safely on the ground. Upon being checked it was found Felix was in great shape and had not suffered any injuries during his trip to space. Information about what became of Felix after his astronaut career is not easily obtainable, but some say he stayed on as a ‘base-cat’ until retiring and returning to France with an employee some years later.

Felix was a part of the French Space Program and two years later, two rats would also be launched into space followed by another cat. Unfortunately, the Veronique-rocket carrying what should have been the second cat in space exploded not long after take-off, creating a spectacular funeral for its feline astronaut. This tragedy also marked the end of French cat crews who were later, somewhat disrespectfully cat-lovers might think, replaced with mice.

Sources

CNES

Irreference

Images by polandeze (feature image) and Francois Roche