We all know chimps and dogs have been to space.
But did you know one of the earliest animal astronauts was a mouse?
I was so fascinated by the true stories of animal astronauts that I decided to include an illustrated timeline at the end of my new picture book, called Stellarphant ⭐🐘🚀
I couldn’t fit much detail into the book, though, so I’m sharing my research here.
So let’s get started with the very first animal astronaut …
🥁🥁🥁 * drum roll * 🥁🥁🥁
1947: FRUIT FLY
Date: Feb 20, 1947
Mission: V-2 Rocket No.20
The very first earthlings to travel into space!
The United States launched fruit flies in a V2 rocket to an altitude of 109km (68mi), testing them for radiation exposure.
The fruit flies were recovered alive.
TRIVIA:
Many years later, fruit fly eggs were also among the first bits of Earthling life to land on the far side of the moon! They were in a small biosphere experiment in the Chang’e 4 Chinese probe which landed on January 3rd, 2019. So far, not even humans have been to the far side of the moon; all our moon missions landed on the near side.
James Foley 