Why did humans send animals up into space?

Answer 1

The reason why a chimp was sent to space was to see if it would be safe a human to do the same. Ham the Astrochimp, was the first hominid launched into outer space. He went into outer space in January 31, 1961.

Answer 2

This goes back to the days before anyone knew what effect space would have on the Human body. It was argued by many scientists that the human body would die in the weightlessness of space ( we can take this back one step, many scientists at the start of the 19th century argued that the human body would die if it travelled at more than 20mph).

The USA decided to test these theories by using monkeys (Russia did the same, but used dogs instead). USA's first monkey astronaut was a rhesus monkey, by the name of Albert. He was launched on the 11th June 1948 in a modified V2 rocket. The rocket reached an attitude of 63Km (39 miles), unfortunately Albert died of suffocation during the flight.

Albert, was followed by Albert's II, III IV, V and VI. Albert II became the first monkey to reach space, when his flight reached 134kms (83miles), 34 kms above the Karman Line, ( The Karman Line begins at 100kms above Earth's sea level and is commonly used to define the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space). Due to various malfunctions none of the Albert's lived to tell their tales.

This was left to Able, a rhesus monkey and Miss Baker, a squirrel monkey, who on the 28th May 1959 became the first living beings to return safely to Earth after travelling in space. Poor Able died on the 1st June 1959 while being operated on for an infection. He was preserved and is on display at the Smithsonian, while Miss Baker lived to the of of 27 and died in 1984, and was buried in the grounds of the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

It has recently been announced that Russia is to start training monkeys for a flight to Mars.

Answer 3

It was a barbaric, shameless grab for worldwide publicity and national 'pride'.

A living thing was intentionally sacrificed, with never any ability or intention

to bring it back. On account of equipment failure, the dog died in horrible

pain and panic even before it was scheduled to die, and the whole thing

was televised. The project had no scientific value, and if it had, the question

of whether that fact justified the grisly affair would still be debatable.

Answer 4

To find out if humans would be able to survive in outerspace since the gravity is zero. Scientists were afraid that their eyes would pop out or something. SO yeah...

Answer 5

They send live animals to space for testing I guess. It was first sent in 1957, using sputnik11 as a space craft, sent by the USSR

Answer 6

So people can test if its safe to go