1950 년대와 60 년대에 전 세계의 과학자들은 우주에 진정한 생물체의 동물원을 시작했습니다 . 아이디어는 인간이 따라갈 수 있기를 바라며 우주 비행이 생물에 미치는 영향을 측정하는 것이 었습니다.
소련 은 라이카라는 이름 의 길 잃은 모스크바 개 를 우주로 보냈고 , 그 멍청이는 국가 영웅으로 영예를 얻었습니다. 침팬지 햄은 미국 우주 프로그램에 기여한 후 뉴 멕시코의 국제 우주 명예의 전당에 묻혔다 고 유명합니다.
그리고 프랑스가 처음으로 (그리고 지금까지 유일한) 고양이를 우주로 보냈습니다. 그녀는 불과 몇 년 전까지 만해도 잊혀졌습니다.
그럼이 영웅 고양이는 누구 였나요?
Félicette는 프랑스 우주 프로그램에 소환 된 14 마리의 고양이 중 하나였습니다. 각 고양이는 뇌에 전극을 이식했으며 모두 인간 우주 비행사 훈련에 포함 된 동일한 활동을 많이 받았습니다. 프랑스 과학자들은 이미 많은 신경 학적 데이터를 가지고 있기 때문에 고양이를 사용하기로 결정했습니다.
First cat in space #Félicette to get memorial statue after successful crowdfund: https://t.co/zh8oh8K44Ypic.twitter.com/p7bQ6o4xou
— collectSPACE (@collectSPACE) November 17, 2017
At the conclusion of training, the petite tuxedo Félicette got the green light, in part because she had such a calm demeanor (and possibly because the other cats got too chubby during training).
On Oct. 18, 1963, Félicette (who was officially known as C 341), was strapped into a Véronique rocket and blasted from Algeria to nearly 100 miles (161 kilometers) above Earth. She experienced about five minutes of weightlessness followed by the terror of a turbulent, spinning descent via parachute.
Just 15 minutes later, the flight was complete. A helicopter crew dashed to the landing site, threw open the cabin, and found Félicette alive and well.
Two months later, scientists rewarded her heroism with euthanasia – they wanted to examine her body to observe the effects of spaceflight. Then, Félicette was all but forgotten.
So forgotten that in the '90s, when three former French colonies celebrated her story by issuing stamps with the cat's likeness, they mistakenly turned her into a boy by using the wrong name – Felix.
But thanks to a clever Kickstarter campaign, the story's finally been set straight. Londoner Matt Guy stumbled upon the tale of Felicette and was shocked that she wasn't already properly recognized for her accomplishments.
"Over the last 54 years, the story of the first and only cat to go to space has been largely forgotten. She deserves a proper memorial," Guy wrote on Kickstarter in 2017. His online pleas netted around $57,000, enough to fund a 5-foot (1.5-meter) tall bronze statue.
On Dec. 18, 2019, the statue was finally unveiled at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. Félicette's bronze likeness stands on a statue of Earth, her keen kitty eyes fixed on the skies where she once soared higher than any cat in world history.
NOW THAT'S INTERESTING
Why was Félicette not remembered for so long? France was the third nation to establish a civilian space agency and – like Félicette – is often regarded as an afterthought in the feverish space race between the U.S. and Soviet Union.
Originally Published: Feb 13, 2020
