Tag: guinea pig

The True History of Animals in Space – Part 2

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Did you know that bacteria samples were sent into space before humans?

Or that guinea pigs and frogs once orbited the Earth together?

I was so fascinated by these true stories of animal astronauts that I decided to include an illustrated timeline at the end of my new picture book, Stellarphant ⭐🐘🚀 ⁠

The back endpapers of Stellarphant

I couldn’t fit much detail into the book, though, so I’m sharing my research here.

Let’s continue our look at the True History of Animals in Space, starting in 1959.

1959: BACTERIA⁠

Date: May 28, 1959
Mission: Bioflight 2

This US rocket test marks the first spaceflight of bacteria from Earth (or at least the first samples deliberately sent to space, and not just living in the gut of an animal sent previously).

It’s worth noting that these were the first earthling bacteria in space; who knows whether alien species of bacteria might be living elsewhere in our solar system!

The bacteria sample was Escherichia coli (aka E.coli). The rocket also carried sea urchin eggs, fruit fly pupae, fungi and plant samples. The rocket reached 483km height (300mi).

NB: the first Australian edition of Stellarphant has bacteria incorrectly listed as first going into space in 1967 – but then I discovered this earlier flight. My bad!

Continue reading “The True History of Animals in Space – Part 2”