Fly To Space!
October 18, 2015 7:23 AM Subscribe
On 20 February 1947, the first animal made it into space aboard a captured Nazi V-2 rocket. That animal was a fruit fly, accompanied by several compatriots from the same species. Their rocket reached an altitude of 108 kilometers and then parachuted safely back to Earth after completing their 3 minute and 10 second mission. All hail Earth's pioneering space travellers!
In terms of flies that stowaway inside groundbreaking scientific achievements, this seems to have gone rather well.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 7:50 AM on October 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 7:50 AM on October 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
Were there four of them? Did they have a fantastic journey?!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:52 AM on October 18, 2015
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:52 AM on October 18, 2015
And so they exposed these flies to cosmic rays and then let them go?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:50 AM on October 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:50 AM on October 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
A screaming buzzing of insects comes across the sky...
posted by hippybear at 10:10 AM on October 18, 2015
posted by hippybear at 10:10 AM on October 18, 2015
Were these the flies that later grew to monstrous size and threatened Huston and Las Vegas, or were they the ones that fused with Jeff Goldblum? I can't keep these insect/science disasters clear in my head.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:34 AM on October 18, 2015
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:34 AM on October 18, 2015
Dammit, peeps beat me to the "Help me, help me," joke.
(Sorry, this is interesting, although I don't like to think of the various other test animals that didn't make it.)
posted by NorthernLite at 11:12 AM on October 18, 2015
(Sorry, this is interesting, although I don't like to think of the various other test animals that didn't make it.)
posted by NorthernLite at 11:12 AM on October 18, 2015
Dropsophilia
posted by sourwookie at 11:15 AM on October 18, 2015
posted by sourwookie at 11:15 AM on October 18, 2015
A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
Let us fly!" said the flea.
So theyflew through a flaw in the flue got on a V-2 rocket that happened to be in the flue and were rocketed into space for the benefit of science/idle curiosity
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:26 AM on October 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
Let us fly!" said the flea.
So they
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:26 AM on October 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
Sixteen months later, in June of 1948, the United States upped the ante by sending Albert, a rhesus monkey, on trip aboard a V-2 rocket. Nine pounds and anesthetized, he was placed in the nose of the V-2, which only went to an altitude of 39 miles. Unfortunately, scientists and his human handlers speculated that he died even before take-off, having suffocated in the cramped capsule.
.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 11:49 AM on October 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 11:49 AM on October 18, 2015 [3 favorites]
Posters, figurines, and even comic books were quickly mocked up with Laika’s likeness. She was the most famous dog in history and ready to go to space.
...
Laika was, controversially, never meant to be recovered, and after 2,570 orbits, on April 14, 1958, Sputnik 2 broke apart and disintegrated in the Earth’s atmosphere.
That's...what? Was the government going to pretend to be sad? Ah, according to Wikipedia they claimed she was euthanised on the sixth day prior to oxygen depletion.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:43 PM on October 18, 2015
...
Laika was, controversially, never meant to be recovered, and after 2,570 orbits, on April 14, 1958, Sputnik 2 broke apart and disintegrated in the Earth’s atmosphere.
That's...what? Was the government going to pretend to be sad? Ah, according to Wikipedia they claimed she was euthanised on the sixth day prior to oxygen depletion.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:43 PM on October 18, 2015
Visit the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, CA (decidedly NOT what it says on the tin) to see a weirdly moving tribute to the Soviet Space Dogs, among other indescribable exhibits. When you reach the roof garden, have tea from the samovar.
posted by mermayd at 2:03 PM on October 18, 2015
posted by mermayd at 2:03 PM on October 18, 2015
That's...what? Was the government going to pretend to be sad?
Yes. Now you know why we had to beat the godless commies and bribe Kubrick to fake the Moon landings on a set in Atlantis.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:23 PM on October 18, 2015
Yes. Now you know why we had to beat the godless commies and bribe Kubrick to fake the Moon landings on a set in Atlantis.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:23 PM on October 18, 2015
...she was euthanised on the sixth day prior to oxygen depletion.
After 6 days she was probably half dead from thirst anyway, let alone starvation.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:33 PM on October 18, 2015
After 6 days she was probably half dead from thirst anyway, let alone starvation.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:33 PM on October 18, 2015
After 6 days she was probably half dead from thirst anyway, let alone starvation.
She had food for the voyage (in gel form, which I imagine was intended to provide adequate amounts of moisture as well). The euthanasia was supposed to be performed via a dose of poisoned food. But since she died a few hours into the flight anyway, the point is moot.
For a happier outcome, see the adventures of Damka and Krasavka. The upper stage of the rocket taking them to space? Failed. The system that was supposed to eject them from the craft before it self-destructed? Failed. (On the bright side, the primary self-destruct mechanism? Failed.) They came down in deep snow and -40 degree temperatures, 3500 km from the launch site, with the backup self-destruct mechanism on a 60-hour countdown. When the recovery team found them, they couldn't even try to open the capsule until the following day. And yet both dogs survived, and Krasavka was adopted by one of the lead researchers and appears to have led a long and happy earthbound life. So at least there are a few more cheerful stories than Laika's among the Soviet Space Dogs.
posted by McCoy Pauley at 5:24 PM on October 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
She had food for the voyage (in gel form, which I imagine was intended to provide adequate amounts of moisture as well). The euthanasia was supposed to be performed via a dose of poisoned food. But since she died a few hours into the flight anyway, the point is moot.
For a happier outcome, see the adventures of Damka and Krasavka. The upper stage of the rocket taking them to space? Failed. The system that was supposed to eject them from the craft before it self-destructed? Failed. (On the bright side, the primary self-destruct mechanism? Failed.) They came down in deep snow and -40 degree temperatures, 3500 km from the launch site, with the backup self-destruct mechanism on a 60-hour countdown. When the recovery team found them, they couldn't even try to open the capsule until the following day. And yet both dogs survived, and Krasavka was adopted by one of the lead researchers and appears to have led a long and happy earthbound life. So at least there are a few more cheerful stories than Laika's among the Soviet Space Dogs.
posted by McCoy Pauley at 5:24 PM on October 18, 2015 [4 favorites]
Well when did the first plant make it into space?
Did humans beat plants into space? Suck it, plants!
Heh, I know the answer to this. A cob of corn went into space in 1946, and came back.
Wikipedia sets a new standard for "having an article on everything" with "Plants in Space"
posted by Rumple at 9:14 PM on October 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
Did humans beat plants into space? Suck it, plants!
Heh, I know the answer to this. A cob of corn went into space in 1946, and came back.
Wikipedia sets a new standard for "having an article on everything" with "Plants in Space"
posted by Rumple at 9:14 PM on October 18, 2015 [2 favorites]
Ctrl-f and I for one, welcome our new insect overlords.
No?
posted by BigCalm at 12:28 AM on October 19, 2015
No?
posted by BigCalm at 12:28 AM on October 19, 2015
great article - I love that one of the two primates we sent into space in May of 1959, Miss Baker, lived another 25 years and was so loved - in Huntsville, Alabama, at the NASA facility - that 300+ people attended her funeral. her fellow passenger Abel - evidently died a few days after visiting space.
posted by TMezz at 12:50 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by TMezz at 12:50 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
Trying to remember on this one. The flies were beat by a blonde Dutch girl ... or couple? Or did the Nazi commander never get around to it? (I seem to remember the chick went on to greater glory as a Mata Hara type, so ... )
Christ, have to read that again (he said, as if that would be a burden ... ).
posted by oheso at 6:56 AM on October 19, 2015
Christ, have to read that again (he said, as if that would be a burden ... ).
posted by oheso at 6:56 AM on October 19, 2015
Come to think of it, they may have psyched the commandant by sticking chicken bones through the oven door ...
posted by oheso at 7:04 AM on October 19, 2015
posted by oheso at 7:04 AM on October 19, 2015
I love the last pest control link.
Stay classy.
FTR: Ironically, there was no more heroic photo of a fruit fly than was posted on that site.
posted by fairmettle at 6:08 AM on October 27, 2015
Stay classy.
FTR: Ironically, there was no more heroic photo of a fruit fly than was posted on that site.
posted by fairmettle at 6:08 AM on October 27, 2015
...and one further addendum - - it appears that macaques may beat the fruit flies to Mars.
posted by fairmettle at 2:37 PM on October 28, 2015
posted by fairmettle at 2:37 PM on October 28, 2015
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Did humans beat plants into space? Suck it, plants!
posted by XMLicious at 7:33 AM on October 18, 2015 [3 favorites]