Human beings, as a species, have had as a goal to know in depth everything that surrounds us, as we learn more, curiosity increases exponentially, it is a premise as common as the relationship between supply and demand. This is how we even conquered the limits of our terrestrial cloister and reached space, but what was the first manned space flight?
The man, in the search for the explanation of everything that surrounds him, has agreed on a very particular phrase, which for a long time, was terrifying to hear for the least privileged in that context; that phrase was: we do it in the name of science and discovery.
After this argument that gave researchers and scientists a kind of divine quality, to be able to interrupt the common order of things, excused by the simple presumption of who acted out of doubt or collective uncertainty (humanity), which made them creditors of superhuman rights, science altered the order and the life of many third parties.
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In this quest for knowledge, in the Middle Ages, many doctors practiced with prisoners in order to measure some pharmacological effects and even surgical practice, the anatomy of certain organs and their functions even in life, animals were not the exception for science.
In the world of cosmic and astronomical studies, science also used animals to be able to measure the effect that zero gravity would have on living beings and other conditions of the journey and travel outside our atmosphere, in order to generate safety conditions. for those who were the first cosmonauts on the planet.
The first space voyages were manned by animals
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the fruit fly
This insect, was the animal pioneer among all, was the first species to leave our Earth's atmosphere. In the middle of July of the year 1946 and with the only company of a few corn seeds, several of these fruit flies left for outer space aboard a rocket V-2.
The fruit flies were recovered alive after their return to Earth. The aim of the experiment was to investigate the effects of radiation exposure at high altitude.
Albert II, a Rhesus monkey
Apes receive training before being sent into space
On this occasion a quadrupedal animal was sent, on June 14, 1949, the United States of America launched the first mammal into space: Albert II, a rhesus monkey, he traveled aboard a rocket of German nationality called V-2 . The Albert II monkey reached an altitude of 134 km. However, this did not have the same fate as the flies, since when entering the atmosphere the parachute system failed, which caused the death of the ape in the collision with the ground.
Russian Dogs: Tsygan and Dezik
The two Russian Dogs that survived the return to Earth
On this occasion, the Russian Soviet Union, on January 29, 1951, launched into space, although it did not put into orbit, the ship
R-1 IIIA-1, which carried the dogs Tsygan and Dezik as a crew. On this mission the two dogs survived the flight.
Laika, Russian bitch
On November 3, 1957, again the Russian Soviet Union, put Laika into orbit, a mestizo dog that they had taken from the streets of Moscow, and trained to withstand the conditions of the trip, however, said training was not enough, since Laika died 5 hours into the flight due to stress and overheating. At first Russia indicated that it had been a controlled poisoning, years later they admitted that there were failures and the cabin overheated.
american cosmonaut mouse
NASA of the United States launched, on August 31, 1958, a mouse into space at an approximate altitude of 137 km from the earth's surface, the rodent traveled aboard a German V-2 missile (called "Albert V flight" , which unlike previous flights in the "Albert" series, this time he was not wearing a jumpsuit.
“Gordo”: the American squirrel monkey
Many of these animals did not survive the journey
On this occasion, again the United States of America through NASA launched, on December 13, 1958, a Jupiter-type intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a South American squirrel monkey named "Gordo ”.
This ape had received special training in the US Navy. The telemetric data showed that during the return trip the animal survived a gravity 10 times higher than Earth's, that is, 8 minutes of microgravity or in other words: practically weightless and a re-entry at 16 thousand km/h whose deceleration generated in the ape a gravity 40 times higher than Earth.
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On this occasion, upon entering the Earth's atmosphere, the parachute system failed and the ape died in the collision with the ground. The capsule in which the mammalian crew member was found sank 2 km from Cape Canaveral and was never recovered by NASA.
Able and Baker monkeys
This was a successful flight for the apes, on May 28, 1959, the monkeys named Able and Baker were the first to return to earth alive, after a space trip, these pioneer apes were the crew of the AM intercontinental ballistic missile -18, which comfortably transported Able, a Rhesus monkey, born on US soil, weighing 3,18 kg, and a squirrel monkey of Peruvian nationality, who weighed 310 grams, named Baker.
On this occasion, the primates flew in the front capsule of the missile, the place where the nuclear warheads are theoretically placed in a missile of these characteristics. They managed to reach a height of 579 km and a distance of 2735 km outside the range of the Atlantic missile system from Cape Canaveral, state of Florida.
These apes withstood an acceleration of gravity 38 times greater than that of Earth, graphed as follows: 38 G (according to the nomenclature of the space measurement system), experiencing weightlessness for 9 minutes.
Able and Baker during their 16-minute spaceflight reached a top speed of 16 km/h. The monkeys survived in good condition until their landing. Unfortunately, the monkey Able died four days after the flight, due to a reaction to the anesthesia used in the operation that was going to remove an infected electrode, which measured the conditions and reactions of the ape's system during the trip. While Baker the monkey lived until November 29, 1984 at the Huntville Space Center, like a hero.
Ham the American Chimpanzee
This ape was the first to perform actions in space
For its part, the United States continued to crew ships with primates, this time on January 31, 1961, Ham the Monkey was the crew of a capsule inside a Redstone rocket. This action as part of the Mercury program, on the Mercury-Redstone 2 mission.
This time the monkey had received training on how to activate levers and switches to dispense bananas or to avoid electric shocks. The space flight of this ape demonstrated the possibility of performing basic operations and maneuvers during a flight to outer space.