Parisian Stray Félicette Became First Astrocat Oct. 18, 1963

Summary: Parisian stray Félicette became the first astrocat Oct. 18, 1963, and claims unique status as the only cat known to return alive from space.

One of Félicette's classmates in France's feline astronaut training program models the mission's body-harnessing capsule, alongside the rocket's nose cone (right): Noura AlShubaily @Nouranism, via Twitter Nov. 1, 2013

Black-and-white Parisian stray Félicette became the first astrocat with her spaceflight Friday, Oct. 18, 1963, and the tuxedo cat claims unique status as the only feline to return alive from space.

Félicette’s spaceflight began with the launch of France’s Véronique sounding rocket V47 at 8:09 a.m., Friday, Oct. 18, 1963. Liftoff took place at the Centre Interarmées d’Essais d’Engins Spéciaux (CIEES; Interarmy Special Vehicles Test Centre) site near the village of Hammaguir in northwestern Algeria’s sand duney Béchar Province.

Félicette’s venture into outer space occurred in a sounding rocket, also known as a research rocket, designed for sub-orbital flight. The spacecraft’s flight path reached outer space but its trajectory did not involve a full orbit of Earth.

Félicette was positioned in a special biological container in the Véronique’s nose cone. During the first 42 seconds of thrust from Earth, Félicette was subjected to an acceleration force of 9.5 g (gravitational force). One g represents acceleration occasioned by gravity at Earth’s surface.

The flight’s trajectograph indicated that separation of the rocket from the nose cone occurred on schedule, 177 seconds (two minutes 57 seconds) after liftoff. The impetus of the booster propelled the nose cone to the trajectory’s culmination, with the reach of 157 kilometers (97.5553 miles). The nose cone then arced, away from outer and space and back toward Earth.

Medical captain (médecin capitaine) Gérard Chatelier of the Centre d’Enseignement et de Recherches de Médecine Aéronautique (CERMA) noted that Félicette experienced weightlessness for 302 seconds (five minutes two seconds). Zero gravity ended 352 seconds (five minutes 52 seconds) into the flight.

Dr. Chatelier noticed that Félicette’s cortical and deep brain waves were slow during the period of weightlessness. He wondered if the slow activity could be attributed to drowsiness or to hypnosis.

Deceleration began at the flight time of 360 seconds (six minutes after the flight’s start). The braking parachute's blossom opened at a flight time of around 534 seconds (eight minutes 54 seconds) or 535 seconds (eight minutes 55 seconds after the flight’s start), respectively, according to Dr. Chatelier's text and trajectograph.

In Animals in Space (2007), military and space flight writers Colin Burgess and Chris Dubbs note that Félicette endured noticeably fluctuating g forces of plus/minus 4 g during the controlled descent. A peak of 7 g followed the opening of the parachute’s blossom.

Félicette’s spaceflight ended when Véronique’s parachuted nose cone touched ground in the Saharan Desert, distanced 15 kilometers from the launch site. Touchdown occurred at a flight time of 636 seconds (10 minutes 36 seconds after the flight’s start).

The recovery team’s helicopter quickly landed alongside Véronique’s nose cone. Félicette’s release from the nose cone took place 793 seconds (13 minutes 13 seconds) after her flight began, according to Dr. Jean Timbal of France’s Centre d’Essais en Vol. Dr. Chatelier described Félicette as emerging from the milestone flight in perfect shape (en parfait forme). Dr. Timbal similarly described Félicette as exhibiting excellent physical shape (en excellent état physique).

Burgess and Dubbs detail Félicette’s journey from Parisian street cat to first astrocat as beginning with her rescue from homelessness by a pet dealer. The French government then purchased her and placed Félicette, then known as C 341, in CERMA’s animal-in-space training program. Including Félicette, 14 cats participated in the program.

CERMA was formed in 1955, with Robert Grandpierre as the centre’s first director. Commander Brice, an engineer who was in charge of CERMA’s technical services, headed the training program. Medical captain Gérard Chatelier directed feline training. Electronician Bernard Cailler headed the laboratory.

The program’s 14 cats were tested for skills in coping with high g-forces; immobility; isolation; loud, launch-like sounds. They were immobilized, in sphinx-like positions, in special containers during isolation and sound experiments. A compression chamber was used to determine feline tolerance of high g-forces. Alone and strapped into a snug capsule on a centrifuge, a cat would be whirled at high speeds in a compression chamber. Burgess and Dubbs note that Félicette emerged from these ordeals with her calm demeanor intact.

As with all feline participants, Félicette underwent a 10-hour operation for surgical implanting of 10 electrodes in her skull and brain. She calmly posed for an official photograph, despite the unnatural protrusion of an electrode from her skull. The electrodes provided electrophysiological recordings with data from Félicette left and left associative cortex, her temporal lobe’s right hippocampus and her mesencephalon (Latin, from Ancient Greek: μέσος, mésos, “middle” + ἐγκέφαλος, enképhalos, “cephalon, brain”), or midbrain.

The takeaway for Parisian stray Félicette, who became Earth’s first astrocat Oct. 18, 1963, is that the brave black-and-white French feline holds the world record, five decades after her spaceflight, not only as Earth’s first astrocat but also as the only cat to return alive from space.

The Blandine launch site at France's launch and ballistic missile testing facility near the village of Hammaguir in northwestern Algeria launched Félicette’s historical spaceflight of Oct. 18, 1963: COMAERO (Comité Pour l’Histoire de l’Aéronautique), Sans restriction (No restrictions), via Pierre Jarrige

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

One of Félicette's classmates in France's feline astronaut training program models the mission's body-harnessing capsule, alongside the rocket's nose cone (right): Noura AlShubaily @Nouranism, via Twitter Nov. 1, 2013, @ https://twitter.com/Nouranism/status/396291558489993217

The Blandine launch site at France's launch and ballistic missile testing facility near the facility of Hammaguir in northwestern Algeria launched Félicette’s historical spaceflight of Oct. 18, 1963: COMAERO (Comité Pour l’Histoire de l’Aéronautique), Sans restriction (No restrictions), via Pierre Jarrige @ http://chezpeps.free.fr/0/Jarrige/PDF/74-CIEES-2.pdf

For further information:

Burgess, Colin; and Chris Dubbs. Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle. Springer-Praxis Books in Space Exploration. Chichester UK: Praxis Publishing Ltd., 2007.

Chatelier, G. (Gérard). “Les Premières Expériences Biologiques Françaises en Fusée.” 81-99. In: Brigitte Schürmann, ed., Première Rencontre de l’I.F.H.E. sur l’Essor des Recherches Spatiales en France: Des Premières Expériences Scientifiques aux Premiers Satellites, Paris, France, 24-25 octobre 2000. Noordwijk, Pays Bas (Netherlands): Division des Publications ESA, 2001.
Available via Harvard ADSABS (NASA Astrophysics Data System Abstracts) @ http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2001ESASP.472...81C

Chatelier, G. (Gérard); B. (Bernard) Cailler; and C. Mourareau. “Les Premières Expériences Animales Françaises en Fusée.” Revue de Médecine Aéronautique et Spatiale, tome XXXII, n° 128 (1993): 274-287.

Chatelier, Gérard. “Préparations et Lancements de Chats à Hammaguir.” Nos Premières Années > Tous les Documents > Première Page > Fusées Sondes. 1961-1962.
Available @ http://www.nospremieresannees.fr/fusee_sonde_tout/fu07-animaux/fu075-diaporama_chat/diaporama.html

christy. “Astrocat.” Daily Cat Facts. April 1, 2014.
Available @ https://dailycatfacts.com/page/10/

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Available @ http://spatial.forumdediscussions.com/t934-les-animaux-spationautes

Goedhart, Robert F.A. The Never Ending Dispute: Delimitation of Air Space and Outer Space. Gif-sur-Yvette, France: Éditions Frontières, 1996.

Gray, Tara. “A Brief History of Animals in Space.” NASA History website > Space Biology. 1998.
Available via NASA @ https://history.nasa.gov/animals.html

L’Observatoire de l’Espace du CNES. “Chatte Félicette.”Observatoire de l’Espace > Dans les Strates de Notre Mémoire > Les Manifestations > Le Musée Imaginaire de l’Espace > Les Précurseurs.
Available @ http://www.cnes-observatoire.net/memoire/musee_manif/12_jep11_compagnons-espace_mem/03.html

Moulin, Hervé. La France Dans l’Espace 1959-1979: Contribution à l’Effort Spatial Européen. HSR-37.  Nordwijk, Pays-Bas (Netherlands): Division des Publications de l’Agence spatiale Européenne, June 2006.
Available @ http://www.esa.int/esapub/hsr/HSR_37.pdf

Noura AlShubaily ‏@Nouranism. “The 1st cat to go to space, Félicette was blasted 97 miles into space on 18/10/1963, by a French Veronique AG1 rocket.” Twitter. Nov. 1, 2013.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Nouranism/status/396291558489993217

Sanz Fernández de Córdoba, Segismundo. “100km Altitude Boundary for Astronauts.” FAI (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) > FAI Astronautic Records Commission (ICARE). 1994.
Available @ https://www.fai.org/page/icare-boundary

Sept Jours du Monde. “Félicette, la 1ère Chatte Astronaute.” Radiodiffusion Télévision Française. Nov. 15, 1963.
Available via France INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel) @ https://www.ina.fr/video/CAF93019883

Tauriq Moosa ‏@tauriqmoosa. "This beautiful creature is Félicette -- the first kitty to go to space & return safely . . .” Twitter. April 4, 2014.
Available @ https://twitter.com/tauriqmoosa/status/452080067556806657

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Wade, Mark. “Veronique.” Astronautix > Alphabetical Index > V.
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