Hamer Bites: Animals In Space!

0:00Hammer bites, bite-sized hammers. Join us as we introduce smaller, stand-alone pieces of the hammer puzzle, rewound, repackaged, replayed, re-hammed, and fresh from the vault. In spaceways we see the duplicitous doctor, Philip Crenshaw, pouring knowledgeably over two dead mice which have taken a fertile rocket trip to the edges of Earth's atmosphere in the name of science. This got me thinking, what else has mankind send hurtling into the stratosphere? Well, let's take a look at some of the other creatures that have taken one giant leap for mankind over the last 75 years or so. First up, fruit flies. On the 20th of February 1947, fruit flies became the first living sentient organisms to go into space, as well as to return, which means, in many ways,

1:02they paved the way for human exploration. Scientists began using fruit flies for research as early as 1907, as humans and fruit flies share many genes. Years before sending mammals into space, scientists studied the common fruit fly and its reactions to both radiation and spaceflight to understand the possible effects of space and a zero-gravity environment on human beings. At the height of the cold war and the space race, flies were sent on missions to space with great frequency, allowing scientists to study the nature of living and breeding in space. And it was good news for the first ever fruit fly shot into space, their flight was launched from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, lasted a total of three minutes and all of the flies returned to Earth untouched by radiation. Next up, monkeys. Albert II, a male racist macaque, was the first primate and first mammal in space. He flew from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, United States to an altitude of 83 miles on June 14, 1949. Unfortunately,

2:03Albert II died upon reentry after a parachute failure caused his capsule to strike the ground at high speed, but scientists were able to monitor Albert's respiratory and cardiological data right up until the moment of impact. If by any chance you're wondering what happened to Albert I, well, he was the first primate launched into high subspace, which is technically not a space flight. Albert I was another racist macaque, who on June 2, 1948, rode a rocket flight over 39 miles into Earth's atmosphere. Unfortunately, Albert died of suffocation, and he may actually have died in the cramped space capsule before the rocket even launched. Things don't get much better for Albert III, IV and V who also died either mid-flight or on impact. Albert VI feared better, surviving both his rocket's flight and landing, but dying two hours later. You know, all in all, my researchers let me to believe that being a space monkey was something of a high risk venture. One exception, however, was Ham the Astrochimp. On the 31st of January 1961, Ham went on a suborbital

3:04rocket flight lasting 16 minutes and 39 seconds. Ham's vital signs were monitored by sensors and computers on Earth as he performed tasks, and his lever-pushing performance in space was only a fraction of a second slower than on Earth, demonstrating that such tasks could be performed in space. The capsule he was in suffered a partial loss of pressure during the flight, but Ham's space suit prevented him from any harm. When his capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean and he was recovered, his only physical injury was found to be a bruise nose. The results from his test flight led directly to the first United States human space flight on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Sheppard. Ham would go on to have a good long 20-year retirement at the National Zoo in Washington DC where he lived for 17 years before joining a small group of chimps at North Carolina Zoo for his final three. Next up, dogs. It appears dogs, by and large, have feared better than monkeys in space. That said, probably the most famous non-human space traveler of them all, Soviet space dog Leica, who flute a space on Sputnik II to become the first Earth-born creature

4:09to orbit the planet on the 3rd of November 1957, did perish whilst doing so, down between five and seven hours into the flight from stress and overheating. It was better news for Soviet space dogs Belka and Strelka, who spent a day in space aboard Sputnik V on the 19th of August 1960 before safely returning to Earth. They are the first higher living organisms to survive orbited in outer space and were accompanied by a grey rabbit, 42 mice, two rats, flies, several plants, and some fungi. All the passengers survived. Even the fungi. After death, both dogs were subsequently stuffed and put on display for the world to appreciate. I mean, that's what I'd want. I've told Mrs. T after I'm gone, I want to be stuffed and used as a hat stand. Anyway, you probably knew about dogs in space, but how about cats in space? Fella said, a stray Perisian cat is the only cat who have been successfully launched into space as part of the French Space Program. On the 18th of October 1963, the rocket containing Fella said was launched into space from a site in Algeria. The mission was a suborbital flight that

5:12lasted 13 minutes, reaching a height of 94 miles and subjecting the cat to five minutes of weightlessness. Upon returning to Earth, the capturers recovered safely, and the mission made her the first cat to reach space and survive space. Fella said it was killed two months after the launch, so scientists could perform an examination of her brain. But it's not all bad news. Several former French colonies have created stamps to commemorate the flight, and in 2017, a crowdfunding campaign was started to raise money to erect a bronze statue of Fella said, to commemorate her contribution to science. The statue was unveiled on December 18th, 2019. It's 1.5 meters tall, and depicts Fella said, perched atop Earth, gazing up towards the skies she once traveled. And finally, frogs in space. The orbiting frog Otolith, or OFO, was NASA's space program which set two bullfrogs into orbit on the night of November 1970 for the study of weightlessness. Bullfrogs were chosen for the study because its inner

6:13real aberrant is very similar to that of a human being. Since its amphibian, water could be used to serve to cushion the vibration and acceleration of launch. The OFO experiment lasted seven days in orbit, at which time the onboard battery failed. Recovery of the spacecraft hardware were not required, so to continue what has become a running theme here, I can confirm two frogs died as part of this experiment. Now, before we end, a passing mention for some other animals which we've also sent up to space. These include guinea pigs, spiders, fish, rats, tortoises, sea urchins, moth, shrimp, jellyfish, ants and a squid. All of which I'd argue shows a real lack of ambition from those NASA lads. Where's the space giraffe, the astro hippo, or the space sharks, nowhere, that's where, not even a space cow. Space, where no one can hear you.