Hector the first French Rastronaut.

[klem]

So, isn't hector handsome with his little anti-g suit ?

 

[klem]

This happened On February 22, 1961, Véronique AGI-24 took off from the Hammaguir base in the Algerian desert. The story goes that it was Hector's double that was placed in the tip of the Véronique rocket since this one had gnawed the braid of the conductors to which it was connected.

 

[riggerrob]

What?
Those arrogant Frenchmen did not send a genuine French citizen bornin la belle France?

Even more silly was those shallow Americans sending an African-born monkey into space.

At least the Soviets sent a Russian-born dog up on their first live space flight.
Go Soviets!
What?
You say that no one will admit to being a soviet any more?
?
?
?

 

[Archibald]

The cat was a female one - a pussy, with the name of Felicette. Dogstronaut, catstronaut, ratronaute, monkeynaut, apenaut... and turtlenauts, the first living beings ever to get around the Moon three months before Borman, Lovell and Anders.

 

[uk 75]

The animal loving Brits have never launched any living thing into space. But as we only managed to launch one object into space by ourselves this was more by luck.

 

[TomcatViP]

Poor Darwin would have lost quite a few hairs trying to make some logic out of the Astronaut species...