Félicette, Earth’s Only Astrocat, Flew to Space and Back Oct. 18, 1963

Summary: Félicette, Earth’s only astrocat, flew to space and back Oct. 18, 1963, in France’s animal-in-space program.

CERMA’s (Centre d’Enseignement et de Recherches de Médecin Aéronautique) official photo of Félicette, Earth's only astrocat, is captioned: “Merci pour votre participation à mon succès du 18 Octobre 1963 (Thank you for your participation in my success on October 18, 1963): Tauriq Moosa @tauriqmoosa, via Twitter April 4, 2014

Félicette, Earth’s only astrocat, flew to space and back Oct. 18, 1963, in France’s biological spaceflight program.

Félicette’s spaceflight took place at the Blandine launch site in France’s CIEES (Centre Interarmées d’Essais d’Engins Spéciaux; Interarmy Special Vehicles Test Centre) launch and ballistic missile testing complex near the northwestern Algerian village of Hammaguir. The complex is located in the Sahara Desert.

In Animals in Space (2007), military and space flight writers Colin Burgess and Chris Dubbs place liftoff at 8:09 a.m., Friday, Oct. 18, 1963. In his 2002 article in Revue de Médecine Aéronautique et Spatiale, Dr. Jean Timbal of France’s Centre d’Essais en Vol also set the launch of Félicette’s historic spaceflight at 8:09 a.m., without specifying the time zone.

On his online space travel reference website, Encyclopedia Astronautica (www.astronautix.com), Mark Wade specifies “07:09 GMT” as the flight’s liftoff time. Greenwich Mean Time (BST) references the United Kingdom’s standard time. Since the Summer Time Act 1972, the United Kingdom advances the clock one hour for British Summer Time (BST) from March’s last Sunday to October’s last Sunday. Greenwich Mean Time is observed during the rest of the year.

Greenwich Mean Time’s time offset designations of UTC+0 recognizes the time zone’s alignment with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the world’s primary time standard. In 1963, Algeria and France observed Central European Time (CET) all year. CET’s time offset of UTC+1 indicates that the time zone is one hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. Félicette’s flight took place at 8:09 a.m., according to CET.

From liftoff to touchdown, Félicette’s historic spaceflight lasted 636 seconds (10 minutes 36 seconds). During liftoff, she was battered by an acceleration force of 9.5 (gravitational force). Félicette experienced weightlessness, also known as zero gravity (zero-g or zero g-force), for 302 seconds (five minutes two seconds). The absence of contact forces upon her body ended at a flight time of 352 seconds (five minutes 52 seconds).

The flight’s deceleration began 360 seconds (six minutes) after the flight’s start, according to medical captain (médecin capitaine) Gérard Chatelier of France’s Centre d’Enseignement et de Recherches de Médecine Aéronautique (CERMA). Dr. Chatelier and Dr. Timbal described the deceleration phase as “chaotique” (chaotic), with turbulences on the order of 4 g-forces.

The nose cone’s parachute blossom opened at a flight time of 534 seconds (eight minutes 54 seconds), according to Dr. Chatelier’s text, or at 535 seconds (eight minutes 55 seconds), according to Dr. Chatelier’s trajectograph. Félicette endured 7 g’s after the parachute’s blossom opened.

The nose cone sheltering Félicette landed 15 kilometers (9.32 miles) away from the launch site. Enclosed in a capsule within the nose cone, Félicette awaited the arrival of her recovery team’s helicopter. Two minutes 37 seconds (157 seconds) elapsed between touchdown and rescue. Earth’s first and only feline astronaut was recovered 793 seconds (13 minutes 13 seconds) after the start of her historic spaceflight.

A Nov. 15, 1963, documentary, “Félicette, la 1ère chatte astronaute,” hosted by journalist Georges Jouin, included footage of Félicette’s retrieval from the nose cone. She meowed in greeting technical services mechanic Vergnol and medical captain Jean Ginet.

Burgess and Dubbs note that Félicette “was said” to have been a Parisian stray prior to her entrance into France’s feline spaceflight program. The French government was believed to have purchased her from a pet dealer, who had rescued the black-and-white stray from the streets of Paris.

Also known as C 341, Félicette trained as one of 14 participants in France’s feline spaceflight program. The program’s felines underwent 10-hour surgeries for electrode implants. Ten electrodes were implanted in their brains and skulls.

The program’s training included an array of tests checking skills in withstanding the challenges of spaceflight. The skill tests exposed the participants to high g-forces (gravitational forces), immobility, isolation and loud, launch-like sounds.

Each participant was secured by a body harness in a body-hugging box or capsule and was placed in isolation chambers for the program’s experiments. Horrendously loud sounds, such as would bombard them during the launch and during flight, were blasted into the chamber for one or two hours each day for 15 days. Each cat was also harnessed for insertion within a spaceflight capsule that was secured to a centrifuge in a compression chamber. The centrifuge’s rapid rotations tested each cat’s ability to tolerate high g-forces.

The takeaway for Félicette, Earth’s only astrocat, is that the courageous tuxedo cat’s historic spaceflight began Friday, Oct. 18, 1963, at 8:09 a.m. Central European Time (07:09 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time) and touched down in the Sahara Desert 636 seconds (10 minutes 36 seconds) later.

Félicette's meowed greeting occurs at 07:23-07:24: Georges Jouin's "Félicette, la 1ère Chatte Astronaute," via Sept Jours du Monde/Radiodiffusion Télévision Française, Nov. 15, 1963

Acknowledgment

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

Image credit:

CERMA’s (Centre d’Enseignement et de Recherches de Médecin Aéronautique) official photo of Félicette, Earth's only astrocat, is captioned: “Merci pour votre participation à mon succès du 18 Octobre 1963 (Thank you for your participation in my success on October 18, 1963): Tauriq Moosa @tauriqmoosa, via Twitter April 4, 2014, @ https://twitter.com/tauriqmoosa/status/452080067556806657

Félicette's meowed greeting occurs at 07:23-07:24: Georges Jouin's “Félicette, la 1ère Chatte Astronaute,” Nov. 15, 1963, via France INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel) @ https://www.ina.fr/video/CAF93019883

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.

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Available @ https://twitter.com/catsworldlife/status/499892059827081216

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.
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