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  First cat in space, Felicette (1963)

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Author Topic:   First cat in space, Felicette (1963)
Chris Dubbs
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Posts: 145
From: Edinboro, PA USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 10-23-2017 04:45 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Chris Dubbs   Click Here to Email Chris Dubbs     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The first cat in space, Félicette, was shot into space 54 years ago from a base in the Sahara desert by the Centre National d'études Spatiales (CNES). Now a British advertising executive is hoping to erect a statue in her honor in Paris, France.
Matthew Serge Guy, a creative director for Anomaly London, has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $52,439 for the statue.

"Around 6 months ago whilst at work, I came across a tea towel in the staff kitchen commemorating the 50th anniversary of the cat who went to space," Guy said in a release. "There was no name for the cat on the towel, nor did it resemble Félicette.

"After Googling it, I became fascinated with Félicette's story, how it had been forgotten over the years, and (like the design of the tea towel) misattributed. It felt like something big should be done to right these wrongs."

moorouge
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Posts: 2456
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009

posted 10-24-2017 01:10 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for moorouge   Click Here to Email moorouge     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The story was well reported in the UK press at the time though I think that she was called Felix in the coverage. Also, if my memory serves me, she was a stray taken from the streets of Paris.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 43192
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-17-2017 09:00 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
collectSPACE
First cat in space Félicette to get memorial statue after successful crowdfund

The first cat to launch into space and live to meow about it is getting her own monument — thanks to the crowdfunded support of more than 1,100 of her fans.

A campaign on the Kickstarter website on Friday (Nov. 17) successfully raised more than $57,000 to create "a proper memorial" for Félicette, a female black-and-white stray that lifted off on a French rocket for a sub-orbital spaceflight on Oct. 18, 1963. The funds will underwrite the sculpture and erection of a statue for Félicette in her home city of Paris.

garyd2831
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Posts: 640
From: Syracuse, New York, USA
Registered: Oct 2009

posted 11-19-2017 05:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for garyd2831   Click Here to Email garyd2831     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
So, while I think there is a bit of animal cruelty in the research on these cats by installing an electrode into their skulls (I know, not different than modern research with makeup, cancer drugs, etc.), what actual data was collected from the flight and three months after when they euthanized Felicette that would support and justify what they did?

Is there any historical research source other than Wikipedia? Couldn't they have at least looked at the research conducted by the United States and maybe the Soviet Union a few years earlier? A little late to the game for them.

Oh, and I fully support a monument and more information in regards to their contribution to what would support human spaceflight.

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 11-19-2017 06:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I don't know of a source for papers on the topic, but from the summaries I have read, the feline experiments (which followed amphibian [frog] and rodent flights) were focused on the effects of weightlessness on the structure of the brain, an area of research not well covered by by earlier animal (or human) flights in the United States or Soviet Union.

The French identified this area of study as lacking and realized they had the tools (sounding rockets) by which to try to add to the scientific record.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 43192
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-08-2019 04:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Matthew Serge Guy, who ran the 2017 Kickstarter to erect a monument to Félicette, has provided an update on the crowdfunding website.

British sculptor Gill Parker is creating the statue that will go on display at International Space University in Strasbourg.

Gill based this on historical photos of Félicette (and you could say her own cats modelled for it somewhat).

It's hard to truly represent how this looks in person with 2D photos, but I thought it looked fantastic.

We initially tried a few poses in a smaller scale, but settled on this dignified pose, looking to the stars above.

This will then be placed atop a globe, with Europe facing out at the viewer from front-on. This felt like a much more respectful way to speak to her out-of-this-world story.

yeknom-ecaps
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Posts: 665
From: Northville MI USA
Registered: Aug 2005

posted 08-08-2019 06:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for yeknom-ecaps   Click Here to Email yeknom-ecaps     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Here is a cover canceled on the launch date at the launch site of Félicette.

ColinBurgess
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Posts: 2035
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 08-08-2019 07:39 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ColinBurgess   Click Here to Email ColinBurgess     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
There are details of Felicette's flight and the entire French bioprogram in the 2007 book "Animals in Space" that Chris Dubbs and I put together. In writing on this subject, we had the wonderful assistance of the then chief of the French program, Gerard Chatelier.

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 43192
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 01-21-2020 10:32 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Matthew Serge Guy, who ran the 2017 Kickstarter to erect a monument to Félicette, has provided another update on the crowdfunding website.
So, a bit of a surprise for you all - Félicette has now happily arrived at her Strasbourg home...

She arrived in Strasbourg at the end of last year, on the 18th of December. Just in time for a soft unveiling as part of International Space University's annual astronaut panel, which was an event already pre-arranged for that date.

As part of that evening's events, including a message from a former ISU student currently aboard the International Space Station, Félicette was unveiled to guests by: Lilla Merabet, Vice President of the GrandEst region; Astronauts Helen Sharman, Paolo Nespoli and Reinhold Ewald; And Philippe Jung, co-author of the academic paper "Felicette, the only space cat".

goose77
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Posts: 28
From: Marion, Iowa, US
Registered: Jul 2019

posted 02-02-2020 10:33 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for goose77   Click Here to Email goose77     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I think the statue is awesome!

Does anyone have more information about the Felicette postcard that CNES distributed? I've done some online research but haven't really found much as far as how many postcards were made, who they were sent to, and so forth.

ea757grrl
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Posts: 730
From: South Carolina
Registered: Jul 2006

posted 02-02-2020 02:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ea757grrl   Click Here to Email ea757grrl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Viewing this as I am with a cat snoozing in my lap and another snoozing next to me, this is beautiful. May Felicette's memory live forever.

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