In 1968 a tortoise, flying with other biological specimens, became the first animal in deep space. In 1975, tortoises set a record for an animal in space, spending 90.5 days out there Animals in space Space travel is not the exclusive domain of humans. See Albert II became the first monkey rept how many corners of the animal kingdom have ventured iles in space in 1949 (after Albert I died during a failed mission) off our planet t ur tl On 20 February 1947 fruit flies became es the first animals in space, reaching over 100km high. They survived the trip The USSR were the first to launch dogs into space, with Tsygan and Dezik in 1951 Laika, famously the first animal in orbit, launched in 1957 and did not survive the trip m insects a etc m In 1973 NASA sent Anita m s a an l e s and Arabella, two spiders, ac st u to space to see if they r c Mice have been frequent flyers for decades. In could spin a web in a 2015 20 mice were sent to the ISS to inform on c weightless environment. t e the effects of extreme inactivity on the body s They could, but only after r e d two days of acclimatising i p s In 1963, the French launched Félicette, the s first cat in space, complete with electrodes e In 2007 tardigrades became d a on her skin to monitor her condition r the first animals to survive g i d complete exposure to r a s t n space, living for 10 days ia n ib e h without any protection m mp a a t In 1985, limb regeneration in newts was o cn d id e ar s ia studied in space, to shine light on human In the 2003 Columbia ns es echin ish oderms ray-finned f recovery from space injuries disaster, animals of m o l several species were lost. lu s However, live nematodes cs In 1970, two bullfrogs went into from one experiment space as part of a study into were recovered from the motion sickness in space crash site Throughout the 1990s, an ark’s worth of A mummichog became the Groups that have been to space species went to space, from oyster first fish in space in 1972, Groups that have not toadfish to stick insects and jellyfish travelling aboard Skylab 3 Illustrations are representative; not every species that has been to space is shown individually. Anthony Lewis/Royal Institution of Great Britain | CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 With special thanks to our lead supporter.