Did you know that before any humans went to space, many different kinds of animals were sent to space? In fact, we would not have walked on the moon without the sacrifices of these extraordinary creatures.
An estimated number of how many animals have been sent to space is about 900 different individual animals spanning across 25 different species.
Sending animals to space is not common practice anymore and is not recommended as it has been ruled to be unethical. Unethical means not following the standards of what most people believe is right and what is wrong. Since the animals cannot choose whether or not to go to space, sending the animals is unethical as it was not their decision to go, meaning that they were forced.
Even when the animals survived, they did not know what happened to them, leading to confusion and sadness, which alters their quality of life. These animals went through so much and have not gotten proper recognition until the 21st century. Felicette the cat received a statue in 2019 in France. Laika the dog received a monument in 2008 in Russia. And Miss Baker, a squirrel monkey who was sent into space in 1959, was buried outside of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Alabama, where visitors still place bananas for her.
It is important to remember the incredible sacrifices they made for scientific discovery, leading us to unlock incredible knowledge about space. They remind us how they have paved the way for human spaceflight.