Editing Animals in space (section)

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[[Image:Miss Baker, the squirrel monkey.jpg|right|thumb|300px|[[Miss Baker]], a [[squirrel monkey]], rode a [[PGM-19 Jupiter|Jupiter IRBM]] (scale model of rocket shown) into space in 1959.]]
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* 1947: [[Fruit flies in space|First animals in space (fruit flies)]]
* 1949: [[Albert II (monkey)|First primate and first mammal in space]]
* 1950: First mouse in space
* 1951: [[Soviet space dogs|First dogs in space]]
* 1957: [[Laika|First animal in orbit]]
* 1959: First rabbit in space
* 1960: [[Belka and Strelka|First animals to survive Earth orbit]]
* 1961: [[Ham (chimpanzee)|First ape in space]]
* 1961: [[Korabl-Sputnik 4|First guinea pig in space]]
* 1963: [[Félicette|First cat in space]]
* 1968: [[Zond 5|First animals in deep space and to circle the Moon]]
* 1970: [[Orbiting Frog Otolith|First frogs in space]]
* 1973: [[Skylab 3|First fish in space]]
* 1973: [[Skylab 3|First spiders in space]]
* 2007: First animal survives exposure to space
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'''Animals in space''' originally served to test the [[survivability]] of [[spaceflight]], before [[human spaceflight]]s were attempted. Later, many species were flown to investigate various biological processes and the effects [[microgravity]] and space flight might have on them. [[Bioastronautics]] is an area of [[bioengineering]] research that spans the study and support of life in [[Outer space|space]]. To date, seven national space programs have flown non-human animals into space: the United States, Soviet Union, France, Argentina, China, Japan and Iran.

A wide variety of non-human animals have been launched into space, including [[monkeys in space|monkeys and apes]], [[Dogs in space|dogs]], [[Félicette|cats]], tortoises, mice, rats, rabbits, fish, frogs, spiders, insects, and quail eggs (which hatched on ''[[Mir]]'' in 1990). The US launched the first Earthlings into space, with [[Fruit flies in space|fruit flies surviving a 1947 flight]], followed by primates in 1949. The [[Soviet space program]] launched [[Soviet space dogs|multiple dogs into space]], with the first [[sub-orbital]] flights in 1951, and first [[Orbital spaceflight|orbital flights]] in 1957.<ref name="AT-20171103">{{cite news |last=Berger |first=Eric |title=The first creature in space was a dog. She died miserably 60 years ago |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/sixty-years-ago-the-first-creature-went-into-space-a-stray-moscow-dog/ |date=3 November 2017 |work=[[Ars Technica]] |access-date=3 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201182453/https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/sixty-years-ago-the-first-creature-went-into-space-a-stray-moscow-dog/ |archive-date=1 December 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Two tortoises and several varieties of plants were the first Earthlings to circle the [[Moon]] in September 1968 on the [[Zond 5]] mission. In 1972, five mice nicknamed [[Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, and Phooey]] orbited the Moon a record 75 times aboard [[Apollo command and service module|command module ''America'']] as part of the [[Apollo 17]] mission (the most recent to put Earthlings into lunar orbit).