Felicette, the first cat in space. Jesus!

 In 1963, apparently, France launched a cat into space! I learnt this only yesterday. They had a space programme in the Sahara! Jesus! On her return the cat was apparently euthanised and then autopsied, but the cat filmed being removed from the landing craft seems to have different markings from those of the cat who went up - even the two stamps above show different markings - so maybe she didn't even make it back from the Heaviside layer! Jesus, I don't know.

 It was all filmed, centrifuges, electrodes to the head, the lot. Does the fact she's a cat make this more uncomfortable? Unlike dogs or monkeys, an important part of human interaction with cats is the granting of status, playing along with the idea they're our secret masters and inherently aristocratic. There's none of that here. And absolutely nobody wanted to see it of course, let alone hear it, so history has rather forgotten the first cat in space. People are much more likely to honour a sacrifice if they're not forced to look at it, that's what I learn from the story of Felicette. You have been warned. Jesus...