Here come the space monkeys

Iran claimed Monday to have sent a monkey into space. The country previously launched smaller animals into the final frontier, including a rat, worms, and two turtles. “What do space programs look for in animal astronauts?” asks an essay in Slate.com

“Portability, experience in the lab, and coolness under pressure. For more than 60 years, space programs have sent animals into space for the same reason coal miners sent canaries into the coal mine: to test for dangerous conditions. To select which species to send, scientists have long looked for a few key traits. First, the animal astronauts should be small, to fit in a spacecraft’s necessarily compact

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quarters. Second, they should be light, to avoid burdening the rocket.Third, scientists choose animals that they’re already used to studying. For example, scientists used Continue reading “Here come the space monkeys”