On This Day October 18, 1963 Félicette the Cat Becomes the 1st Feline in Space!
Upon Felix the cat learning he was about to be launched in space, he hurriedly prepared his escape plan for that night.
After several applications of butter and camouflage, Felix executed his plan to freedom…
According to space.com “Félicette, a stray tuxedo cat from the streets of Paris, was a substitute” or catnapped to replace Ol’ Felix.
After a hefty dose of catnip Félicette agreed to venture where no cat had gone before and boarded the French Véronique AG1 rocket ready to do her duty!
Systems check pre launch…
“Félicette has a green light! It’s a go! Countdown begins,
3,
2,
1,
Ignition!
Once in space, Félicette was able to relax and enjoy her 130 mile cruise while ground control monitored the cuteness.
Little time to rest though as it’s time to get serious and start preparations for atmosphere re-entry…
Ground command is ready for re-entry sequencing!
Initiate!
Now that Félicette has successfully entered Earth’s atmosphere, the capsule must now parachute safely for extraction.
But wait! Something went terribly wrong!
A minor hiccup forced Félicette to jettison the capsule and sent the famous Cat Air Rescue Extreme Team into action. The team known as CARE (comprised of courageous cats) performed an in-air rescue!
Félicette having survived the perilous space flight had slight side effects from space travel which included.
- Hair turning white.
- Loss of 1 life.
Arriving back to earth safely Félicette was showered with praise and given a parade!
Unfortunately, over the next six months our hero cat was prodded, poked, studied, and endured extreme testing to find out what happens to cats in space!
The following video contains scenes of inappropriate cat testing so please use caution,
Here we see our exhausted hero preparing for yet another injection,
After months of testing our hero could hardly recognize herself and developed two different eye colors – the scientists were astounded!
Cheer up Félicette, you still have two lives left!
Look out for that car!
We’re still tying to figure out what she was doing in Russia, maybe a catronaut exchange program? But nevertheless our hero suffered minor injuries and still has one life left!
Rest assured you are remembered on this day and celebrated in France and around the world!
