So, the first people went to space in the 60s but it was nearly 20 years before that when animals first went into space, but sadly died. There have also been monkeys and mice that have been shot into orbit, and have had memorial plaques made for them because without them, people would not have been confident to go into space at all!
Kate’s right: space exploration was like the biological and medical sciences — test on other animals before putting people at risk.
As for monkeys, there are much much stricter rules for biological experiments on monkeys than for experiments on any other animal (such as rats or fish), and there are very few experiments done on apes (the monkeys that are most closely related to people) at all.
cnixon
Hi cnixon,
I knew that when scientists were working out if they could travel to space they did send a dog up there, but then I found this article: http://www.spacetoday.org/Astronauts/Animals/Dogs.html#OtherAnimals and now realise that they sent LOTS of animals up to space!
So, the first people went to space in the 60s but it was nearly 20 years before that when animals first went into space, but sadly died. There have also been monkeys and mice that have been shot into orbit, and have had memorial plaques made for them because without them, people would not have been confident to go into space at all!
1
Hi cnixon,
Kate’s right: space exploration was like the biological and medical sciences — test on other animals before putting people at risk.
As for monkeys, there are much much stricter rules for biological experiments on monkeys than for experiments on any other animal (such as rats or fish), and there are very few experiments done on apes (the monkeys that are most closely related to people) at all.
1