France sent Félicette, a cat to space in 1963

In 1963, France made a groundbreaking decision to send a cat named Félicette into space, marking her as the first and only feline to ever venture beyond Earth's atmosphere. This historic journey took place on October 18 of that year when Félicette was launched aboard a French Véronique rocket from a facility in Algeria's Sahara Desert.

At an altitude of approximately 154 kilometers (95.7 miles), the cat experienced around 9.5 times the force of gravity, a journey that lasted only a few minutes before her capsule parachuted her back to Earth safely.

Félicette's significance goes beyond just being the first cat in space; her mission provided invaluable insights into how living organisms react to space travel. Despite her short time in orbit, her story has become an intriguing and poignant chapter in the early days of space exploration. After her return, Félicette was initially euthanized two months later for scientists to examine the effects of the spaceflight on her body.

Although the examination did not yield significant findings, it did demonstrate that brain activity could be monitored remotely.

The French chose to send a cat instead of other animals commonly used in space missions, such as dogs, monkeys, or chimpanzees. This unique approach was due to a research program at Cerma, the Centre d'Enseignement et de Recherches de Médecine Aéronautique. In 1961, they gathered 14 stray cats for potential space missions, and after rigorous training for launch and weightlessness, C341 was selected to be the first cat to reach space.

The name Félicette was derived from the French cat cartoon character Felix, but when it was discovered that the cat was female, the name was changed accordingly. Since then, Félicette has been recognized as the only cat to have traveled into space, a title that remains unique in the annals of space history.