# Have They Taken Mammals on the Space Shuttle or Other Manned Space Flight?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-they-taken-mammals-on-the-space-shuttle-or-other-manned-space-flight/119924>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 20, 2002, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-they-taken-mammals-on-the-space-shuttle-or-other-manned-space-flight/119924 "2002-07-20T03:06:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-they-taken-mammals-on-the-space-shuttle-or-other-manned-space-flight/119924/1 "2002-07-20T03:06:19Z")

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I know that we’ve taken fish up there on the Shuttle, and I know that the Russkies sent dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, etc. into orbit (presumably to see if the poor beasts could survive) before actually sending a man up there. The Russian animals who survived re-entry didn’t manage to tell us how they felt about it.

So have we ever sent a more intelligent animal than a fish into space with a human?

Imagine how a cat would react in Zero Gravity!😃  
A dog would probably freak, but eventually get used to it. A mouse would probably be disoriented momentarily but then get his bearings and settle down…

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**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-they-taken-mammals-on-the-space-shuttle-or-other-manned-space-flight/119924/2 "2002-07-20T03:39:02Z")

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I assume you mean mammals other than human. Well the first American in space, much to the consternation of Ike, was the chimpanzee Ham. Read the book _The Right Stuff_ for a glimpse into the early space program. The movie is a favorite but less illuminating.

IIRC I’ve heard that little animals adapt readily to zero G but don’t know if it was mice or something else.

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**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-they-taken-mammals-on-the-space-shuttle-or-other-manned-space-flight/119924/3 "2002-07-20T03:53:26Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> So have we ever sent a more intelligent animal than a fish into space with a human?

Except for other humans, I assume? 😉

From [this cite](http://www.nasaexplores.com/lessons/02-034/9-12_index.html) comes a quote I take as meaning that mice have been in space. How do you handle mice? Something like [this](http://lifesci.arc.nasa.gov/lis2/Hardware_Appendix/AEM.html).

In fact, [this](http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/kids/what_animals_flown.stm) opens to a puzzle (in html, though) that’ll get you a list. From the search page, there was a better list of “Monkeys, newts, beetles, rats, wasps, frogs, quail, dogs, bees, copepods, killifish, zebra fish, and jellyfish,” but the link wasn’t working so I can’t get you a proper cite other than to do a search in nasa about “animals in space.”

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**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-they-taken-mammals-on-the-space-shuttle-or-other-manned-space-flight/119924/4 "2002-07-20T03:55:38Z")

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Aw, hell. If it hadn’t been for the hamsters, I’d have been first up with the human crack.