Able and Baker were the first monkeys to make it back from space alive. In 1959, the rhesus monkey Able and the squirrel monkey Baker flew on an intermediate-range ballistic missile's nose cone.

Ham the Chimp was sent to space in January 1961, making him the first chimpanzee in space. He was brought from West Africa to be trained by NASA in 1959, and experienced 6.6 minutes of ...

The space dog box used on suborbital and early orbital flights (via Wikimedia Commons). Laika, the first animal in orbit, aboard Sputnik 2, November 3, 1957. Unfortunately she died when the oxygen ...

In the early days of space exploration, scientists sent animals like fruit flies, monkeys, dogs, tortoises and worms into ...

The first animals in outer space were fruit flies launched in a captured Nazi V-2 rocket on Feb. 20, 1947. The flies reached an altitude of 68 miles (108 km) and were recovered alive by parachute.

1960: Belka and Strelka, a couple of stray mutts impressed into the Soviet space program, become the first living creatures to return alive from an orbital flight. The Soviets had been using dogs ...

On June 11, 1948, a rhesus monkey named Albert I become the first animal to reach space, strapped aboard a V-2 Blossom rocket that flew to a suborbital height of 83 miles (134 kilometers) above ...

The pithy moniker may have helped the geckos get publicity, but humans have a long history of sending animals into space. At first, ... The craft fell back to the surface in December 2012.

Sad story of the stray dog who was sent to space and never returned. Laika was found on the streets of Moscow and selected to be the first animal to orbit the Earth. nottinghampost.

Soviet cosmo-dogs Strelka (left) and Belka win fame as the first animals to orbit the Earth and return alive. ... Aug. 20, 1960: Back From Space, With Tails Wagging. Soviet cosmo-dogs Strelka ...