WEBVTT - What Was the First Cat in Space?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain

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<v Speaker 1>Stuff Lauren bogelbam here. In the nineteen fifties and sixties,

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<v Speaker 1>scientists around the world launched a veritable menagerie of creatures

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<v Speaker 1>into space. The idea was to gauge the effects of

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<v Speaker 1>space flight on living creatures in the hopes that humans

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<v Speaker 1>could follow. The Soviet Union sent a stray dog from

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<v Speaker 1>Moscow named Leca into space, and subsequently the pooch was

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<v Speaker 1>honored as a national hero, and Ham the chimpanzee was

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<v Speaker 1>famously buried at the International Space Hall of Fame in

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<v Speaker 1>New Mexico following his contributions to the U S Space program.

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<v Speaker 1>And then there was France, which sent the first and

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<v Speaker 1>so far only cat into space. She was in nobly

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<v Speaker 1>forgotten until just a few years ago. So who was

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<v Speaker 1>this hero cat? Felis Sette was one of fourteen cats

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<v Speaker 1>summoned to the French space program. Each cat had electrodes

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<v Speaker 1>implanted into their brain and all were subjected to many

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<v Speaker 1>of the same act it is included in human astronaut training.

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<v Speaker 1>French scientists decided to use cats as they already had

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of neurological data on them. At the conclusion

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<v Speaker 1>of training. Feli Sette, a petite tuxedo, got the green

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<v Speaker 1>light in part because she had such a calm demeanor,

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<v Speaker 1>and possibly because the other cats got too chubby during training,

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<v Speaker 1>though Pheli Sette herself was a little bit of a

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<v Speaker 1>loafy chunk. On October eighteenth of nineteen sixty three, Foli Sette,

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<v Speaker 1>who was officially known as C three forty one, was

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<v Speaker 1>strapped into a Vironic rocket and blasted from Algeria to

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<v Speaker 1>nearly one hundred miles or one sixty kilometers above the Earth.

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<v Speaker 1>She experienced about five minutes of weightlessness, followed by the

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<v Speaker 1>terror of a turbulent, spinning descent by a parachute. Just

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen minutes later the flight was complete. Helicopter crew dashed

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<v Speaker 1>to the landing site, threw open the cabin, and found

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<v Speaker 1>Felisette alive and well. Two months later, scientists rewarded her

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<v Speaker 1>heroism with ethan asia. They wanted to examine her body

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<v Speaker 1>to observe the effects of space flight, and Feli Sette

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<v Speaker 1>was all but forgotten. France was the third nation to

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<v Speaker 1>establish a civilian space agency, and like Feli Sette, is

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<v Speaker 1>often regarded as an afterthought in the feverish space race

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<v Speaker 1>between the US and the Soviet Union. So much an

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<v Speaker 1>afterthought that in the nineteen nineties, when three former French

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<v Speaker 1>colonies celebrated her story by issuing stamps with the cat's likeness,

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<v Speaker 1>they mistakenly turned her into a hymn by using the

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<v Speaker 1>wrong name Felix. But thanks to a clever Kickstarter campaign,

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<v Speaker 1>the story has finally been set straight. Londoner Matt Guy

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<v Speaker 1>stumbled upon the tale of Feli Sette and was shocked

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<v Speaker 1>that she wasn't already properly recognized for her accomplishments. Guy

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<v Speaker 1>wrote on Kickstarter in she deserves a proper memorial. His

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<v Speaker 1>online please netted around fifty seven thousand dollars, enough to

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<v Speaker 1>fund a five foot tall bronze statue that's about one

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<v Speaker 1>and a half meters. On December eighteenth of twenty nineteen,

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<v Speaker 1>the statue was finally unveiled at the International Space University

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<v Speaker 1>in Strasbourg, France. Felis sets bronze Likeness hurches atop a

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<v Speaker 1>small globe of the Earth, her keen kitty eyes fixed

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<v Speaker 1>upward and outward, where she once soared higher than any

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<v Speaker 1>cat in world history. Today's episode was written by Nathan

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<v Speaker 1>Chandler and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is production

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<v Speaker 1>of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. For more in

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<v Speaker 1>this and lots of other curious topics, visit our home planet,

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