Animal astronauts helped paved the way for humanity to reach for the star. In this episode we're going to take a look at some of those furry explorers from 1947 to 1961.

Logo Design: Vanessa Chavez

Sources: 

A Brief History of Animals in Space: https://history.nasa.gov/animals.html

Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945-1974 by Asif A. Sadiqqi: https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4408pt1.pdf 

60 years ago: The First Animal in Orbit: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/60-years-ago-the-first-animal-in-orbit

Sputnik 5: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1960-011A

Biography of Wernher Von Braun: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/history/vonbraun/bio.html

The Sad, Sad Story of Laika, the Space Dog, and her One-Way Trip into Orbit by Alice George: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/sad-story-laika-space-dog-and-her-one-way-trip-orbit-1-180968728/

Mercury Primate Capsule and Ham the Astrochimp: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/mercury-primate-capsule-and-ham-astrochimp

What Was the First Animal Sent into Space?: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-was-first-animal-space

Wernher Von Braun President's National Medal of Science Details: https://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.jsp?recip_id=374

Remembering Laika, Space Dog and Soviet Hero by Alex Wellerstein: https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/remembering-laika-space-dog-and-soviet-hero

Project MIA (Mouse-in-Able) Experiments on Physiological Response to Spaceflight by F.L. Van Der Wal and W.D. Young: https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/8.4879

Monkeys in Space: A Brief Space Flight History by Mike Wall: https://www.space.com/19505-space-monkeys-chimps-history.html

RIP, Laika: Pioneering Space Dog Launched 60 Years Ago Today by Mike Wall: https://www.space.com/38660-laika-space-dog-launch-60th-anniversary.html

Laika Declassified by Anatoly Zak: https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/laika-declassified-180967077/

The Astrochimps by John T. Correll: https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0911astrochimps/

How Historians are Reckoning With the Former Nazi Who Launched America's Space Program by Alejandro de la Garza: https://time.com/5627637/nasa-nazi-von-braun/

Fact check: Nazi scientists were brought to work for U.S. through Operation Paperclip by Miriam Fauzia: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/09/16/fact-check-nazi-scientists-brought-u-s-operation-paperclip/5690870002/

Ivan Ivanovich: Test Flight Mannequin: https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/space-race/online/sec300/sec312.htm

What Was the Space Race? by Adam Mann: https://www.space.com/space-race.html

Military Orgins of the Space Race: https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/space-race/online/sec200/sec200.htm

Laika by Robert Lewis:  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Laika

V-2 Rocket by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/technology/V-2-missile

Sergei Korolev by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sergei-Korolev

Wernher Von Braun by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wernher-von-Braun