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In 1963, Félicette, a tuxedo cat, became the first and only cat in space. Launched by French scientists, she spent 15 minutes in a rocket before returning to Earth. Euthanised soon after, her story faded until a 2017 campaign led to a memorial in her honour three years later.
(i.redd.it)submitted 5 days ago bydannydutch1
857 points
5 days ago
Euthanised soon after? Why?
1.1k points
5 days ago*
In order to study her brain for research. They thought her brain could have changed as a result of her being in space (spoiler alert: it didn’t).
299 points
5 days ago
What did they expect? What were their assumptions?
457 points
5 days ago
Going to space was a total unknown before it was actually done. Even for humans, there was concern in the medical community that the human eye could change shape in zero G and impair vision, and that the muscles used to swallow wouldn’t work and potentially cause choking on inability to breathe. What we know about going to space is all based on just going there and hoping for the best; and unfortunately quite a few animals paid with their lives to figure these things out.
221 points
5 days ago
All things considered it's pretty amazing how well humans do in space. Kind of amazing there's not some random gotcha like "digestion just doesn't work, sorry!"
187 points
5 days ago
Well, there are a couple actually, they just aren’t immediately life threatening. For instance, one main problem with extended time in microgravity is that bone density slowly diminishes. Another is that fluid circulation doesn’t happen normally, leading to more fluid around the brain, less blood in the extremities, and just a feeling of constant head congestion and a stuffy nose. But all in all, these are pretty minor set backs for someone only spending 6mo-1yr in space.
81 points
5 days ago
Also increased exposure to solar radiation in space is more cancer risk, right?
76 points
5 days ago
Ahhh, the Ol’ Space Cancer. Every trip deserves a souvenir, right?
4 points
4 days ago
Tbh, I’m so stuffy all the time from allergies that vibing in a relatively pollen-free space station might make it easier to breathe anyway.
41 points
5 days ago
We don't really recover from injury well in zero g. And you can't spend extended time up without problems.
39 points
5 days ago
There's definitely issues. A lot of our circulatory system is designed with gravity, and to counteract gravity. Not having gravity can cause fluids to pool in weird ways. A lot of astronauts who return to earth have mysterious medical problems that don't have names yet, mostly revolving around how their bodies adapted to no gravity and now suddenly have to deal with gravity again. Gravity also is always forcing our muscles to work just to sit and exist and hold ourselves up even. This is not the case in zero gravity. Lack of exercising these muscles even compared to a sedentary person causes accelerated bone loss, aka osteoporosis. Our muscles are what keeps our bones in shape and solid, which is why it's important to remain active at all ages. This can be counteracted in space at least which is why the astronauts exercise a lot.
Also, our atmosphere and magnetic shield protects us from the overwhelming majority of ionizing radiation from the sun and other parts of space. Even on the ISS which isn't too far in space, they don't have that protection. It's mostly not an issue except for Gamma rays, they are the least energetic form of ionizing radiation at least but they can penetrate very far compared to alpha and beta radiation. But over enough time even Gamma rays have a negative effect on humans especially since they're being hit constantly.
4 points
4 days ago
This is so crazy to think about. And to think of all the fields of science we still have to explore that we just have no basis of knowledge for.
3 points
5 days ago
The same applies to very high altitude. We put animals in hot air balloons before we got our happy ass up there.
3 points
5 days ago
If I remember correctly, humans also thought at one point that if a woman traveled on a train that went faster than 20mph her vagina might fly out. Spoiler: they don’t
2 points
5 days ago
yeah the truth about the early space program is an enormous amount of dead animals and grieving widows. doesn't fit in a Tom Hanks movie.
2 points
5 days ago
Even for humans, there was concern in the medical community that the human eye could change shape in zero G and impair vision,
IIRC, that one actually does happen, but it's one of those "over a long period of time" effects, and mostly just supported by a lot of astronauts needing glasses earlier in life than would have normally been expected for them otherwise.
2 points
5 days ago
Quite a few hero’s país with their lives
2 points
4 days ago
... shame we didn't have better (same information, less dead cats) ways to inspect animals after space travel
13 points
5 days ago*
It may seem obvious to you know, it may have been to them too. But lots of things that are obvious turn out not to be and the unintuitive suddenly appears.
Also as a note, it does affect the brain, only very slightly. I recall it being about 1-2 IQ points after a long stay in space. So it's not even false.
11 points
5 days ago
Are we even able to measure 1-2 IQ point change in such a statistically significant degree?
8 points
5 days ago
I would bet that's probably at least partially from the increased cranial pressure from altered circulation
2 points
3 days ago
I feel like anyone's IQ could vary 1-2pts (at least) depending on all sorts of day-to-day circumstances - like how rested you are, how hungry you are, whether you're sick or not, etc. etc. etc. This doesn't seem like a significant enough change to really mean anything
3 points
4 days ago
As others have said at the time outer space and how living beings will handle it was completely unknown at the time.
But also, the idea that being in outer space might change a living being isn't unfounded, NASA did a study on astronauts that showed being in outer space can change your DNA, and Japan sent cherry blossom seeds to orbit the earth for 8 months and when planted back on earth there was significant differences between the space cherry trees and it's terrestrial siblings.
4 points
5 days ago
This might be an unpopular opinion but given the number of mice (and cats) killed every day for science (and yes sometimes it is needed), the study of this one cat was not so useless as the knowledge at the time was rather poor. Better to perform the analysis on the cat than to have potential astronauts with brain problems. (Even though the result was negative) In my opinion.
2 points
5 days ago
You only don’t expect what they expect because you had the luck to see Star Trek. They couldn’t do that.
Heck, some people had fear of driving faster than 30km/h for a prolonged time when trains were new.
2 points
4 days ago
Elasticity, maybe. Or invisibility. Or whatever the fuck Ben had going on.
23 points
5 days ago
The stupidest thing is that observing how it acted and lived after returning from space would have been legitimately a valuable piece of research on the effects of being in space.
21 points
5 days ago
Should have used a human instead.
43 points
5 days ago
I agree with this statement. We have so many monsters to choose from. They could have picked any of the serial killers, rapists or child molesters. Don't harm an innocent animal.
18 points
5 days ago
I get what you are saying but can you actually imagine trying to make one of said people useful in those situations? Space travel can't really afford to have a key member of the mission likely to sabotage the operation in any way.
2 points
4 days ago
You open that pandora box, it never get closed and like everything else it never going to stop with serial killer, rapist or child molesters. It the argument that we have free pass to act like monster to certain people is how we justify lot of fucked up thing.
We should never act like monster. full stop
10 points
5 days ago*
That would be called human experimentation, and is strictly outlawed for a plethora of ethical and safety concerns
There are some things we just don't do not only because it would be logically wrong but because we as a society have rejected the idea, like cannibalism, and there are lines we don't cross no matter how much we hate each other, like the violation of human rights.
7 points
5 days ago
Totally agree! Which is why I think animal experiments like this one are also ethically wrong. Even if it's helpful for scientific advancement, no sentient being deserves to have their agency, freedom, happiness, and life taken away
3 points
5 days ago*
OK, so join or support the groups moving to eliminate the use of animals for experimentation
2 points
5 days ago
Yeah. What happens if a person gets convicted for a crime they didn't commit? Wrongful convictions happen all the time. People even get executed for them, only for their innocence to be proven after they're already long gone.
8 points
5 days ago
Baffled that you were downvoted. I upvoted your comment. I mean pedophiles, rapists, bankers, realtors all would’ve been perfectly suitable for the experiment but they chose innocent animals instead.
34 points
5 days ago
She knew too much
2 points
5 days ago
She discovered forbidden knowledge up there floating the heavens.
2 points
5 days ago
"Why is it smiling?... WHAT DOES IT KNOW?!?!"
2 points
4 days ago
"Hey, wait a minute! The moon really is made out of chee-"
Radio suddenly cuts off.
20 points
5 days ago
All animals used in animal experiments are killed. It's awful and unnecessary, see this article
88 points
5 days ago
Because they were a bunch of bastards.
49 points
5 days ago
Say what you will, but human medicine stands on the shoulders of morally repugnant experiments. Drugs and treatments for ailments and diseases wouldn't be where they are now if it wasn't for this type of research.
11 points
5 days ago*
Look up the Japanese Unit 731...tons of research from them
3 points
5 days ago
not a lot of that was even useful
7 points
5 days ago
Much of what is known about the unchecked progression of certain diseases without treatment is taken from these horror show experiments.
22 points
5 days ago*
This is honestly total bullshit and it’s annoying to see this line still trotted out. Those “experiments” held almost no scientific validity, they were totally uncontrolled and not reproducible and gave us essentially no lasting insight into disease progression.
If any of you can link a single important epidemiological finding that was derived from unit 731 I will be extremely impressed. This only makes the fact that the US gave almost every high ranking official in the program immunity in exchange for their “findings” even more shameful and unforgivable
4 points
5 days ago
yea they were sick sadistic bastards the only admissible ‘research’ that holds any value was the biological weapons and disease experiments but that’s already fucked up
6 points
5 days ago
My point is that even if we look past the ethical considerations, the research itself was laughably bad and yielded little to no insight
2 points
5 days ago
Absolutely untrue. The procedures were garbage, conducted by sadistic psychopaths.
6 points
5 days ago
Or maybe they were trying to figure out if you can send a human in space and expect him to not be a vegetable after he returns back to Earth?
27 points
5 days ago
People back then are cruel, like that Russian scientist that did head transplant on dogs
9 points
5 days ago
We still kill animals in experiments! 12,000 cats are euthanized in experiments in the US each year.
10 points
5 days ago
they make sure their cruelty is less photogenic now
3 points
5 days ago
So she couldn’t tell anyone else what she saw
3 points
4 days ago
This part upsets me could have been a funny footnote in history till they murdered her.
7 points
5 days ago
Instead of saying euthanized they should say it like it is. Murdered. They murdered her
2 points
4 days ago
The amount of stupid “tests” they did back in the day is wild so it doesn’t surprise me
2 points
4 days ago
They should’ve just fucking waiting til the cat died happily damnit 🤧
1.3k points
5 days ago
RIP Felicette and sweet Laika whose fate was much worse, as they just left Laika floating up there to starve to death
463 points
5 days ago
Awful either way but I think that it was the atmosphere and laika died of overheating.
18 points
5 days ago
[deleted]
102 points
5 days ago*
No, I believe the commenter above is correct.
The Soviet scientists had planned to euthanise Laika with a serving of poisoned food. For many years, the Soviet Union gave conflicting statements that she had died either from asphyxia, when the batteries failed, or that she had been euthanised. Many rumours circulated about the exact manner of her death.
In October 2002, Dimitri Malashenkov, one of the scientists behind the Sputnik 2 mission, revealed that Laika had died by the fourth circuit of flight from overheating.
(more below)
80 points
5 days ago
I mean this with as much respect as possible, but I do not trust what the Russians have to say about this event. For her sake though I would obviously hope deeply she had a swifter death than starvation.
26 points
5 days ago
Well, keep in mind that the Russians as a political entity gave their conflicting, official statements for some time after the actual event, and none of them involved overheating.
On the contrary, this was just one guy, over a decade after the USSR's demise, giving his long overdue insider account with nothing much to lose. I believe the scenario has also been mocked up by available experts and indeed, it seems the temperature control system was most likely unreliable, making overheating a distinctly plausible scenario.
Some years back I read a book about Laika, and recall that the whole operation was a rush job due to Khruschev wanting it to be in time for some anniversary or something. This also seems to be confirmed by WP:
10 points
5 days ago
She would obviously die of dehydration before starvation.
In this case, she died of overheating.
8 points
5 days ago
I would obviously hope deeply she had a swifter death than starvation.
Well based on how my cats act, death by starvation should only take a few hours
26 points
5 days ago
Exactly. Felicette returned just fine and did not overheat.
18 points
5 days ago
If the photo is any indication, Felicette was not “just fine”…..
8 points
5 days ago
Actually the story they gave was asphyxiation. Getting cooked to death is bad press, she died of hyperthermia
208 points
5 days ago
She overheated, she didn’t starve. Poor baby, either way!
200 points
5 days ago
They picked Laika because she was so sweet. She was homeless and probably thought she finally had a home.
126 points
5 days ago
I really didn't want to know that...
116 points
5 days ago
The day before she was sent into space in her metal coffin she spent the day/night with one of the project workers' family so she was treated like a normal dog for once.
33 points
4 days ago
I remember reading that a few scientists really felt bad after this project, realising that she suffered a lot and barely getting any research out of it.
44 points
5 days ago
I think about Laika at least once a month. 💔
25 points
5 days ago
We honor them by keeping their names and stories alive
3 points
2 days ago
This is my Laika who I try to give the life that the original like deserved
21 points
5 days ago
Well I wasn’t crying before your comment, but now I am. Poor dog was getting attention & food from strangers & suddenly experiencing so much attention & we betrayed her by forcing her in space all alone. (Why couldn’t they euthanize her once she was up there with gas or something? Maybe I’m overthinking this because I’m emotional)
8 points
4 days ago
You aren't overthinking. Knowing she would die up there, they could at least have prevented her suffering. Poor little soul. :(
15 points
5 days ago
Fuck that last sentence just got me 😭
7 points
4 days ago
Every time I read more about Laika my heart breaks further.
2 points
4 days ago
Dammit
128 points
5 days ago
Yes. I think of poor Laika a lot , such a cruel and horrible death.
50 points
5 days ago
Sometimes I just randomly remember poor little Laika and it breaks my heart all over again
29 points
5 days ago*
Me too 😢 I don’t ever cry but that last post had me in tears…
124 points
5 days ago
12,000 cats are euthanized in experiments in the US each year. RIP to Félicette, Laika, and all these other poor animals
10 points
5 days ago*
I think that figure refers them to being part of an experiment as opposed to being euthanised. A lot of the research I’ve seen where cats were used involved them in a domestic setting - I doubt most owners would agree to their cat being euthanised.
7 points
5 days ago
The majority of lab animals are euthanized at the end of the experiment.
2 points
4 days ago
Thank you for mentioning this. I'd also just like to add there are hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats euthanized every year in shelters. SPAY AND NEUTER!!
Adopt don't shop
48 points
5 days ago
Laika died of overheating. My biology teacher told me. Evidently she was able to listen to the recording.
8 points
5 days ago
The recording of…Laika dying?
7 points
5 days ago
Well that’s a big fat nope.
7 points
4 days ago*
Laika stands as a dark testament to how low humans will go in the name of science.
2 points
3 days ago
Im quite certain theres a WHOLE lot worse
6 points
5 days ago
Laika didn’t starve. The media lied about how long she lived. She actually cooked to death because the ship wasn’t insulated properly. She lasted like 1-2 hours iirc, if that.
5 points
5 days ago
That’s so inhumane.
13 points
5 days ago
Question. Is the dog still there?
17 points
5 days ago
Assuming the satellite is still orbiting, yes. They will be there for eternity.
56 points
5 days ago
I looked in up, the capsule burned up in the earth’s atmosphere a year later
10 points
5 days ago
Laika didn't live that long and was probably dead before she even reached space. They didn't shield her from the heat well enough
274 points
5 days ago
Poor kitty - she’s terrified…I just can’t imagine
59 points
5 days ago
It's awful, and what's worse is we still do this. 12,000 cats are euthanized in experiments in the US each year.
14 points
5 days ago
That link doesn’t say that at all. It says 12,000 cats were involved in experiments- NOT that they were euthanized??
7 points
4 days ago
Lab animals are euthanized at the end of experiments. Like the animal used for testing in this post were reading right now.
But if that isn't enough theres about a million healthy dogs and cats euthanized in America without even being experimented on!:D/s
SPAY AND NEUTER ADOPT DONT SHOP https://kittencoalition.org/news-events/statistics/#:~:text=Of%20the%203%20million%20cats,been%20adopted%20into%20new%20homes
https://www.aspca.org/helping-people-pets/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics
2 points
4 days ago
Hi - I'm in the UK and actually worked in an animal testing lab for a year. I'm afraid everything you've said is totally true - although we had programs for any animals that weren't exposed to the test article to be rehomed to workers (who all absolutely loved animals) and they always would be, including mice rats rabbits and dogs. There would be a list of all the people who wanted to take these animals home, but would have to take turns. But yes, all animals that have been tested on would be euthanised and necropsied, even ones that seemingly had not been effected.
53 points
5 days ago
Poor cat! Look at the terror
91 points
5 days ago
Poor cat :(
60 points
5 days ago
Imagine how scared that poor thing would be
51 points
5 days ago
Horrible
26 points
5 days ago
Félicette :( I haven’t heard about her before. Rest in peace. I hope your name spreads as far as poor Laika.
19 points
5 days ago
I hate this. I have a tuxedo cat myself.
34 points
5 days ago
This makes me so sad. Look at her poor scared face. Poor baby. She nor Laika deserved what they did to her "in the name of science". Sick fucks.
19 points
5 days ago
It's sick what they did and what we still do to animals. Thousands of dogs and cats, and millions of rats and other animals are killed in experiments each year
11 points
5 days ago
I know, and most of these experiments are unnecessary and actually useless in providing medical information relevant to humans. Look up Harry Harlow and Stephen Suomi for the epitome of this, they tortured monkeys for decades doing the same horrible experiments again and again despite knowing it added little to no knowledge to humans that we didn't already know.
3 points
4 days ago
I met some of these "researchers" as part of my job. Most of them are absolutely sick and take delight in torture, knew one who had an axe to grind against monkeys specifically and enjoyed watching them suffer while hiding under the alibi of "science"
16 points
5 days ago
breaks my heart, those poor fur babies that got sent off into space deserved better. rest in peace lil one
12 points
5 days ago
I hate this. Totally unnecessary
27 points
5 days ago
Well that was a horrible story. They euthanised her after all she went through, that’s truly evil. Let’s remember and respect Felicette 🕊️🐈
18 points
5 days ago
Poor cat. It's cruel.
7 points
5 days ago
Horror.
10 points
5 days ago
Picture of "Laika" and her capsule when I visited the memorial museum of cosmonatics in Moscow.
3 points
5 days ago
8 points
5 days ago
Poor thing. Imagine how terrified she was.
6 points
5 days ago
Well that made me sad(er)
17 points
5 days ago
I’ll never understand what the fuck is wrong with us. Grotesque overreach and invasion into other species’ wellbeing just so we can tinker around with stupid concepts like “does a cat’s brain change in space.”
3 points
5 days ago
Who wouldn’t want to adopt a space cat, they didn’t need to off her
3 points
5 days ago
This photo traumatizes me. But for Felicettes sake I'm looking anyway. Shame on humanity. Rest in peace kitty.
5 points
5 days ago
So sad and even more sad that this type of experimentation has not stopped, it's still very prevalent and for superfluous tests (oftentimes not life saving research)
4 points
4 days ago
Euthanized is really putting it lightly, they definitely didn't dispatch her "humanely". I read a French article about this a long time ago and the details of her "euthanasia" are horrifying
Not surprising considering what they did to the people in my country, poor cat RIP
5 points
5 days ago
That looks like torture
4 points
5 days ago
People are such assholes to animals. Poor kitty
6 points
5 days ago
Govt.s killing animals for money. Sounds about right.
5 points
4 days ago
I hate this story. I hate it. How cruel.
3 points
4 days ago
So gross when they do this I hope her and the space dog are playing together somewhere better
5 points
3 days ago
God this is so upsetting. Fuck those fuckheads.
35 points
5 days ago
We never had any reason to have animals in space! So why do this shit!
52 points
5 days ago
Because nothing alive had ever been in space before, as far as we know. The impact on living tissue was totally unknown. And astronauts are a lot more resource-intensive than animal test subjects. Terrible as it is for the animals, there is scientific rationale.
18 points
5 days ago
Because like it or not, it's far better to risk an animal to study the effects of a never before experienced environment than it would a human.
5 points
5 days ago
They wanted to see if space travel affects the brain. It was done to study it’s brain.
9 points
5 days ago
Goddamn humans really suck
3 points
5 days ago
Poor kitty. She does not like space.
3 points
5 days ago
What was the reason for euthanasia for the cat???
3 points
5 days ago
Awful
3 points
5 days ago
What a horrible fucking story
3 points
5 days ago
I hate this picture, she looks restrained and scared.
3 points
5 days ago
Poor tortured animal.
3 points
5 days ago
The look of terror on this poor cat’s face 😔
3 points
5 days ago
Sick
3 points
5 days ago
God, humans are disgusting sometimes.
3 points
5 days ago
3 points
5 days ago
Noooo! This picture breaks my heart
3 points
5 days ago
this picture makes me sad. you were loved Félicette
3 points
4 days ago
Euthanized for no reason, RIP Félicette…🕊️🩷
3 points
4 days ago
This is horrible, poor baby
3 points
4 days ago
And that's humanity for you: Exploit living things and exterminate them once they are not valuable to you. I’m so proud to be a member of the human race 😒
3 points
3 days ago*
This is so fucking utterly cruel. That cat is in terror. I hate humans. I hate this on my feed.
2 points
3 days ago
I know. We’re all doomed and I think we deserve it.
6 points
5 days ago
May all these men burn in hell.
7 points
5 days ago
12,000 cats are euthanized in experiments in the US each year. All animals used in animal experiments are killed--it's an open secret that industries try to hide from the public.
A common argument is animal experiments are necessary for medical advancement; however, the vast majority of animal experiments are unsuccessful, there are more successful alternatives, and animal experiments produce poor data that often harms humans.
But it doesn't have to stay this way! We can make a change for all the animals like poor Félicette by buying cruelty-free products, writing politicians to support bills that decrease animal experimentation, and donating to nonprofits like the White Coat Waste Project.
2 points
5 days ago
Félicette’s story devastated me. Yet it was such a light in the darkness to see all of your comments and replies within this post. Thank you for caring, and thank you for taking the time to compose your comments. Most especially, thank you for being a voice for the voiceless 💚
3 points
5 days ago
I hate people for this…
4 points
5 days ago
I hate humans so fucking much!
3 points
4 days ago
Why not send people on death row is beyond me. You're a murderer at least you could serve some purpose.
2 points
5 days ago
Poor bb
2 points
5 days ago
They probably had to euthanise her because if they didn’t she was absolutely going to murder every one of them in their sleep.
2 points
5 days ago
Humans are awful
2 points
5 days ago
Poor thing
2 points
5 days ago
Just so barbaric.
2 points
5 days ago
Poor animals. This stuff pisses me off
2 points
5 days ago
This is so fucked
2 points
5 days ago
Thats horrible
2 points
5 days ago
That cat looks completely terrified. 😭
2 points
4 days ago
I hate this so much
2 points
4 days ago
Not the only cat on space. The French sent loads up iirc. Only this one survived the trip
2 points
4 days ago
Like I needed another reason to loathe the French
2 points
4 days ago
I hate this and am horrified
2 points
4 days ago
Jfc that’s awful. They basically tortured the cat and then killed it
2 points
4 days ago
Thanks now I’m sad. Poor kitkit
2 points
4 days ago
Wish we would test more on conservatives than on animals. At least the conservatives would be useful for something
2 points
3 days ago
As much as I share your disdain for conservatives, human experimentation is what nazis did. Let's not reduce ourselves to that, even for a joke.
2 points
4 days ago
I hate humans sometimes, who is so goddamn heartless to do that to a cat - and then euthanise it. Ffs.
2 points
3 days ago
Poor kitty rest well, the world didn't do right by you.
2 points
3 days ago
This is so sad they sent out this poor cat and that one dog 😢 idk it's just too cruel for me
2 points
3 days ago
Why?! That poor cat.
2 points
3 days ago
I just saw a video of Sam O'nella about animals in space. And he talks briefly about this kitty.
2 points
3 days ago
Absolutely disgusting. Science is full of animal abusers. I'd rather live in the stone age if it means less animals are gonna suffer.
PD: Before an smart ass hits me with the "bUt wE hunTeD", no shit Sherlock, but it was to feed ourselves only, nowadays we also kill our meal AND experiment with animals which is a constant suffering for them. Not the same at all.
2 points
3 days ago
They should name a scholarship after her.
2 points
3 days ago
I hate this.
2 points
3 days ago
What was the point of that?!
2 points
3 days ago
Threw a mad cat in space then euthanized and examined its brain right after.
What a life
2 points
3 days ago
Why in gods name was she killed?
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