Year | Animal subject | Flight profile |
|---|---|---|
United States | ||
1958 | Mice Wickie,Laska, and Benji | 1400 miles. None of the threeflights were recovered. |
1958 | Squirrel monkeyOld Reliable | 300-mile maximum altitude over a1300-mile distance via a Jupiterrocket. Not recovered. |
1959 | Rhesus monkeysAbleand Baker | 300-mile maximum altitude over a1500-mile distance via a Jupiterrocket. Recovered. |
1959 | Black mice | 500 seconds of weightlessness inDiscoverer III via a Thor-Ablerocket. The Discoverer vehicledid not go into orbit and theanimals were lost. |
1959 | Rhesus monkeySam | 53-mile altitude in Little Joe.Recovered. |
1960 | Rhesus monkeyMiss Sam | 9-mile altitude in Little Joe.Recovered. |
1960 | C-57 black mice | 650-mile altitude over a 5000-miledistance via Atlas RVX-2A.Recovered. |
1961 | Chimpanzee Ham | 156-mile altitude over a 414-miledistance via a Redstone booster,Mercury capsule. Recovered. |
1961 | Chimpanzee Enos | 2 Earth orbits. 183 minutes ofweightlessnessat an apogee of 146miles anda perigee of 99 miles.Atlas booster, Mercury capsule.Recovered. |
Soviet Union | ||
1958 | Dogs Belyankaand Pestraya | 280-mile altitude in hermeticallysealed cabin. Recovered. |
1959 | Dog Otyazhnayaand a rabbit | Over 100-mile altitude. Recovered. |
1960 | Dogs Belka andStrelka, 21black and 21 white mice | 16 Earth orbits (24 hours) viaSputnik V. First successfulrecovery of living creature fromorbital flight. |
1960 | Dogs Pchelka andMushka | 16 Earth orbits (24 hours).Spacecraft destroyed duringreentry. |
1961 | 1 dog, mice, guinea pigs,and frogs | 1 Earth orbit at an apogee of 155miles and a perigee of 114 miles.Recovered. |
1961 | Dog Laetzpochka | 1 Earth orbit. Recovered. |
France | ||
1961 | Rat Hector | 95-mile attitude in a capsuleboosted by a Veronique rocket.Recovered. |
1963 | Cat Felicette | 95-mile altitude in a capsuleboosted by a Veronique rocket.Over 5 min of weightlessness.Recovered. |
THE NASA BIOSATELLITE PROGRAM[3]
The space environment offers a unique opportunity to study the basic properties of living Earth organisms with new tools and opens up new areas of research for which biological theory fails to provide adequate predictions. Unique components of the space environment of biological importance are weightlessness or greatly decreased gravity, the imposition of an environment disconnected from Earth's 24-hour rotation (particularly its effect on biorhythms), and cosmic radiation with energies and particle sizes unmatched by anything produced artificially on Earth ([ref.169]).
As progress is made in the manned exploration of space, the biological effects of its unique environmental factors become of greater importance. It is essential to determine the effects of space environment on man's ability to perform physical and mental tasks. In addition, it is necessary to develop those systems required for his survival and for his physiological and psychological well-being, both in space and in his subsequent resumption of normal life patterns. Despite nearly a century of research and development in environmental physiology, a number of phenomena will be encountered in long-term space flight with which we have had neither the experience that would enable us to predict the effects nor to develop the necessary protective or remedial measures ([ref.170]). Many of the experimental programs in bioscience are being carried out or planned so that the deleterious effects of these phenomena may be determined, predicted, or avoided before they are encountered in manned flight.
Biological experimentation has been carried out in orbiting spacecraft by Soviet and American scientists preparatory to manned space flight. These first-generation exploratory experiments had the following objectives:
- To discover whether complex organisms could survive space conditions and to test life-support systems
- To determine whether complex organisms (dogs and primates) could survive launch, orbital space flight, reentry, and recovery
- To determine the effects of space radiation and any obvious effects of weightlessness on biological organisms
These biological studies indicate that manned space flight was practicable, and the various cosmonaut and astronaut flights have proven the validity of the results.
The National Academy of Sciences' Space Science Board summer study ([ref.171]) recommended that—
NASA should exploit special features of the space environment as unique situations for the general analysis of the organism-environment relationships including, especially, the role environmental inputs play in the establishment and maintenance of normal organization in the living system. NASA should support studies in ground-based and in orbiting laboratories [biosatellites] on the biological effects of gravity fields both above and below normal. This should be considered a major responsibility of NASA in the area of environmental opportunities. NASA should support studies of biological rhythms in plants and animals including man as part of its effort in environmental biology. Investigate by observation of rhythms in organisms in space in (a) polar and equatorial low orbits; (b) orbits less than, equal to and greater than 22,000 miles. Properly designed experiments should be conducted to explore the effects of different environmental factors when these impinge simultaneously on test organisms.
The Panel on Gravity of the Space Science Board ([ref.67]) stated that the major effects of low gravity would be expected in heterocellular organisms that develop in more or less fixed orientation with respect to terrestrial gravity and which respond to changes in orientation with relatively long induction periods, including the higher plants. On the other extreme are the complex primates which respond rapidly, but whose multiplicity of organs and correlative mechanisms make the occurrence of malfunction and disorganization probable, but not certain. The Panel recommended emphasis on early embryogenesis and histogenesis, particularly of plants during exposure to low gravity, and anatomical studies after low gravity. They stated that perturbations of the environment to which the experimental organism is exposed must be limited or controlled to reduce uncertainties in interpretation of results. At the same time, the introduction of known perturbations may assist in isolating the effects due solely to gravity. Ground-based clinostats and centrifuges should be used in conjunction with the experiments, and an attempt should be made to extrapolate effects of low gravity with the clinostat.