Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle

Front Cover
Springer Science & Business Media, Jul 5, 2007 - Science - 406 pages

Many readers will doubtless be astonished to learn that animals were being fired aloft in U.S. and Soviet research rockets in the late 1940s. In fact most people not only believe that the Russian space dog Laika was the first canine to be launched into space, but also that the high-profile, precursory Mercury flights of chimps Ham and Enos were the only primate flights conducted by the United States. In fact, both countries had sent literally dozens of animals aloft for many years prior to these events and continued to do so for many years after. Other latter-day space nations, such as France and China, would also begin to use animals in their own space research.

Animals in Space will explain why dogs, primates, mice and other rodents were chosen and tested, at a time when dedicated scientists from both space nations were determined to establish the survivability of human subjects on both ballistic and orbital space flights. It will also recount the way this happened; the secrecy involved and the methods employed, and offer an objective analysis of how the role of animals as spaceflight test subjects not only evolved, but subsequently changed over the years in response to a public outcry led by animal activists. It will explore the ways in which animal high-altitude and space flight research impacted on space flight biomedicine and technology, and how the results - both successful and disappointing - allowed human beings to then undertake that same hazardous journey with far greater understanding and confidence.

This book is intended as a detailed yet highly readable and balanced account of the history of animal space flights, and the resultant application of hard-won research to space technology and astrobiology. It will undoubtedly become the ultimate authority on animal space flights.

From inside the book

Contents

From wrath to research
1
Highaltitude research A curious phenomenon First animal passengers On re but safe The hazards of highaltitude ight A fatal error Research balloons ...
5
Holloman and the Albert Hall of Fame
25
3
60
4
85
Able and Baker lead the way
121
The most famous dog in history 143
142
Prelude to manned space ight
169
Cold War collaboration
284
and 1129
290
Politics and biosatellites in the 1990s
297
References
303
Project Gemini
311
12
337
Tragedy and a lengthy hiatus
344
Rodents lead the way in research
351

Pioneers in a weightless world 203
202
Biting the hand
239
MercuryRedstone 2
242
Understanding Enos
259
Paving the way for John Glenn
269
The age of the biosatellites 277
276
2
360
Epilogue 373
372
U S biological rocket ights 19461960
383
Appendix F Bion research ights 391
389
Copyright

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Page 88 - I dimly saw Mr. Coxwell, and endeavoured to speak, but could not. In an instant intense darkness overcame me, so that the optic nerve lost power suddenly, but I was still conscious, with as active a brain as at the present moment whilst writing this. I thought I had been seized with asphyxia, and believed I should experience nothing more, as death would come unless we speedily descended : other thoughts were entering my mind, when I suddenly became unconscious as on going to sleep.
Page 87 - I found it powerless — it must have lost its power momentarily ; trying to move the other arm, I found it powerless also. Then I tried to shake myself, and succeeded, but I seemed to have no limbs. In looking at the barometer my head fell over my left shoulder; I struggled and shook my body again, but could not move my arms. Getting my head upright for an instant only, it fell on my right shoulder ; then I fell backwards, my 'back resting against the side of the car and my head on its edge.
Page 103 - ... provided there is adequate protection from collision with solid objects. The maximum deceleration sustained by a chimpanzee in this series was from 174 miles per hour to a stop in 27.5 feet in the supine, head first position. This could have been survived with some temporary disability by a human being. It is many times what would be encountered in any automobile collision or plane crash short of complete demolition of the vehicle.
Page 269 - The performance of a series of tasks involving continuous and discrete avoidance, fixed ratio responses for food reward, delayed response for a fluid reward, and solution of a simple oddity problem was unaffected by the weightless state. (4) Animals trained in the laboratory to perform during simulated acceleration, noise, and vibration of launch and reentry were able to maintain performance throughout an actual flight.
Page 270 - ... (1) The numerous objectives of the Mercury animal test program were met. The MR-2 and MA-5 tests preceded the first ballistic and orbital manned flights, respectively, and provided valuable training in countdown procedures and range monitoring and recovery techniques. The bioinstrumentation was effectively tested and the adequacy of the environmental control system was demonstrated . (2) A 7-minute (MR-2) and a 3-hour (MA-5) exposure to the weightless state were experienced by the subjects in...
Page 16 - Occupation of German scientific and industrial establishments has revealed the fact that we have been alarmingly backward in many fields of research. If we do not take this opportunity to seize the apparatus and the brains that developed it and put the combination back to work promptly, we will remain several years behind while we attempt to cover a field already exploited.
Page 13 - We despise the French; we are mortally afraid of the Soviets; we do not believe the British can afford us; so that leaves the Americans
Page 242 - Accordingly, arrangements were made to train several chimpanzees under contract with the Wenner-Gren Aeronautical Research Laboratory, University of Kentucky. Subsequently, Air Force personnel were transferred from the Unusual Environments Section of the Aerospace Medical Laboratory, Aerospace Systems Division, Wright-Patterson AFB. Also, arrangements were made with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research to aid in the establishment of a comparative psychology branch at AMRL. Training of eight...
Page 87 - Up to this time I had experienced no particular inconvenience. When at the height of 26,000 feet I could not see the fine column of the mercury in the tube ; then the fine divisions on the scale of the instrument became invisible. At that time I asked Mr. Coxwell to help me to read the instruments, as I experienced a difficulty in seeing them.
Page 269 - ... chimpanzee Enos was put into orbit for 3 hours and 20 minutes. Results of the two flights gave the following information: (1) Pulse and respiration rates during both the ballistic (MR-2) and the orbital (MA-5) flights remained within normal limits throughout the weightless state. Effectiveness of heart action, as evaluated from the electrocardiograms and pressure records, was also unaffected by the flights. (2) Blood pressures, both arterial and venous, were not significantly changed from preflight...

About the author (2007)

Colin Burgess is a recognised historian in the field of space literature and has carried out extensive research on the history of animal space flights over many years. Chris Dubbs also carried out comprehensive research on Soviet animal flights. He was selected by the New Mexico Museum of Space History to serve as Guest Curator for their upcoming exhibit on the Soviet space dogs.

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