Carla Pyne

This is Félicette, a stray cat that became the first feline launched into space on 18 October 1963, as part of the French space program. Weighing just five and a half pounds, she was chosen for her calmness and resilience, making her the perfect candidate for the mission.⁠ In October 1963, a black-and-white stray from Paris named Félicette made history as the first and only cat to travel to space. Selected by French scientists for her calm demeanor, she soared 154 kilometers above Earth on a suborbital flight and returned safely, securing her place in space exploration history. Yet Félicette’s story is as tragic as it is groundbreaking. Just two months after her successful mission, she was euthanized so researchers could study the effects of space travel on her body. Her sacrifice yielded little scientific insight, and for decades, her name faded into obscurity. That changed in 2019, when a statue was unveiled in her honor at the International Space University in Strasbourg, depicting her gazing toward the stars, a long-overdue tribute to a small cat who helped expand humanity’s reach beyond Earth.