In 1957, the first animal, a small female dog named Laika, was launched aboard the Soviet Sputnik 2. Laika was placed in a pressurized compartment within a capsule that weighed 1,103 pounds (500 kilograms), and died after a few days in orbit. The United States send a squirrel monkey named Old Reliable into space aboard the December 12, 1958, Jupiter flight, but it drowned during recovery. The next year, on another Jupiter flight, NASA sent two female monkeys into space and both were recovered alive.
- How many U.S. astronauts have walked on the Moon?
- Can astronauts drink soda in space?
- Which is the windiest planet?
- Who was the first African American in space?
- Who was the first woman in space?
- Who was the first man in space?
- What does a satellite do?
- What are space probes?
- What has the Hubble Space Telescope discovered?
- What do the astronauts wear in space?
- What is a space shuttle?
- When did the first spacecraft go up into space?
- What is the U.S. Census?
- How does a rocket blast off?
- Where in space could you ice skate?
- How many kids are there in the world?
- Why did people begin exploring?
- How many people are there in the world?
- Why are rain forests so important to the health of our planet?
- Are there plant species that are endangered?
