Felicette, the first cat in space(felicette.com)
Felicette, the first space cat – She used to be a stray cat on the street of Paris and the next moment she was the first and only Astro-cat in the history. Once she was picked up from the street, her destiny made a drastic turn. She was a nice-natured black-and-white female and selected to fly into space among other elites. While Laika, the first canine in space didn’t make it, was Felicette able to survive?
First Space Cat, Felicette
POINT BREEZE KINGDOM – LATE EVENING
Servant Y is watching something on a big screen on the desk.
Mmmm…! This is really cool.
Johnny comes in.
What you are watching over there, Y?
Johnny jumped onto servant Y’s lap.
It’s a footage of launching of space shuttle in Florida. Don’t you think it’s cool?
The shuttle is about to take off with huge blast.
Is it ok, I mean it looks the bottom of it is exploding?!
That’s the power it needs to take off the ground and fly up to the space, your majesty!
Wow.
Servant H comes in.
Favorite footage from NASA?
Yeah. It makes me feel excited just like I watched for the first time no matter how many times I watch it. Don’t you think it’s really cool that so many architects, engineers, and technicians work together so hard on one thing to make them fly into space? These visions and passions?
Johnny looks up at Y with mystified eyes.
It’s all boys’ dream come true, your majesty. Oh, he came from a town which is famous for its spaceship industry.
Is that right?
Exactly! They develop and produce the heart of space shuttle, the rocket engine. They are working on the research of the future technology of rocket engine as well.
A rocket engine firing.(Wikipedia)
Sounds so grand!
One of my dreams was to become an engineer, architect of rocket engine of space shuttle.
Never knew that! Now you are working on to re-create
human brain, so to speak?
Yes, kinda like that. I’m currently working on the human conversations and make it smooth as silk.
You are an architect at heart.
Did you know there was a cat who flown to the space, your majesty?
A cat in space??
Yes. First space cat. She used to be a stray cat on the street of Paris.
I can smell some story
here! Let’s hear it!
Historical 15 minutes in space on Véronique AG147 rocket
French space cat Felicette with implanted skull electrode. (Photo: courtesy Dr. G. Chatelier, CERMA)(rrnursingschool.biz)
On 18 October 1963 at 8:09 am, Felicette was about to be the first and only feline in space. Electrodes were attached to her skull to measure neurological impulses for CERMA[1] while Felicette rocketed through the sky. CERMA trained around 14 cats before flight and Felicette was the chosen one. Her flight was un-orbital and lasted 15 minutes, reached an altitude of 97 miles and returned to the earth safely.
And we have to mention that there was a no-name
cat after Felicette’s flight. The launch of the shuttle this second cat was on board went wrong from the start and the rocket was crashed. This unfortunate cat was recovered two days later, which has never named and probably never will be in the future…
A candidate strapped into the restraining apparatus that would be used on the rocket flight. (Photo: courtesy Dr. G. Chatelier, CERMA)(rrnursingschool.biz)
There’s always sacrifice to development especially huge ones.
Her 15 minutes journey in space contributed valuable information to France’s space program. Needless to say, this history-making ride made her the only feline successfully ventured into space and back to earth.
I see… Felicette made it, but there were a lot of other cat’s devotion to sacrifice for human projects. We always work together to strive for the other…
Too true…
Cats in Space – Felicette on the left with other cat candidates that trained for astro flight(Monkeys in Space)
Felicette, the first space cat, is one of the animals who devoted their lives to humans’ development and dreams for space. Some survived, a lot of them died on the way. Originally, animals in space only to serve to test the survivability of spaceflight, before manned space missions were attempted. Felicette was a fortunate one to stay alive after the mission and spent her life back on land quietly in peace. Our dreams are not consists of only our effort but animals, other creatures are a very much part of it.
References
[1]Centre d’Enseignement et de Recherches de Médecine Aéronautique (CERMA) (Wikipedia)
Animals in space (Wikipedia)
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Also published on Medium.
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