{"id":887054,"date":"2026-10-18T22:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T22:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/887054\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T22:32:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T22:32:17","slug":"on-this-day-in-space-oct-18-1963-frances-felicette-becomes-the-1st-cat-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/887054\/","title":{"rendered":"On this day in space! Oct. 18, 1963: France’s F\u00e9licette Becomes the 1st Cat in Space! >^..^"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Oct. 18, 1963, a cat went to space! F\u00e9licette was a French “catstronaut” who became the first and only feline to fly to space.<\/p>\n

While the U.S. and Soviet Union were busy launching primates, dogs and humans, the French decided to join the space race by launching a cat. F\u00e9licette, a stray tuxedo cat from the streets of Paris, was a substitute for another cat named Felix, who somehow escaped on launch day.<\/p>\n

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So F\u00e9licette went where no cat had ever gone before. She boarded a French V\u00e9ronique AG1 rocket and soared 130 miles above the Earth before safely parachuting back down.<\/p>\n

Luckily F\u00e9licette made it home alive and well, unlike many of the other animal astronauts that flew during the space race.<\/p>\n

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\"a\n<\/p>\n

F\u00e9licette, the first cat to fly into space in October 1963, is seen her carrier pre-flight. (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)Why it mattered<\/p>\n

F\u00e9licette survived spaceflight, but was short of this world. She was euthanized two months after her recovery so scientists could study her brain.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

A second cat was launched by the French on Oct. 24, but its flight did not go so well, veering off course. When the cat was found a day later, it was discovered it have died as a result of the journey. From there on, CERMA (Centre d’Enseignement et de Recherches de M\u00e9decine A\u00e9ronautique) changed its research to flying monkeys.<\/p>\n

F\u00e9licette may have become a footnote to history had it not been for a crowdfunded effort to raise a statue in her memory nearly 60 years later. The sculpture was unveiled<\/a> in 2019 at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France. European astronauts Helen Sharman, Paolo Nespoli and Reinhold Ewald were on hand for its reveal.<\/p>\n

\"Space\"<\/p>\n

Image 1 of 3<\/p>\n

\"F\u00e9licette,<\/p>\n

F\u00e9licette, the first cat in space (seen here at right), immortalized as a bronze sculpture at the International Space University in Strasbourg. On the left here is one of the first photos of the artwork while in progress, and at the center is a small scale model.<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Gill Parker\/Kickstarter<\/a>\/CNES)<\/p>\n

To this day, F\u00e9licette and her less-fortunate astro-cat classmate remain the only felines to fly on a rocket. <\/p>\n

In 2013, reports surfaced<\/a> that Iran was planning to send a cat into space as soon as the following year. By all accounts, though, that never happened.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A closer view of F\u00e9licette’s face in bronze.<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy of Matthew Serge Guy)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The unveiling of the F\u00e9licette statue honoring the first cat in space.<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Courtesy of ISU<\/a>\/Photo Expression)<\/p>\n

In addition to the memorial statue, F\u00e9licette has been memorialized on postage stamps issued by Chad and Comoros, both former French colonies.<\/p>\n

Want more space history? Check out our full On This Day In Space Story archive<\/a> and watch our On This Day In Space videos on YouTube.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

\nOn this day in space! Oct. 17, 2016: Private Antares rocket returns to flight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Oct. 18, 1963, a cat went to space! F\u00e9licette was a French “catstronaut” who became the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[79],"class_list":["post-887054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}