Moon Landing 1969 Part 2

Image source: https://imgur.com/r/redditdayof/0AqIQ

Before sending humans into space many countries sent animals as a way to check survival. Some of these stories are very sad but there are a number of children's books on this topic and these animals are truly heroes because without their 'work' we may not have been able to send men and women into space.

Many years ago we purchased a interesting little book series for our school library called Animal Heroes from the Orchard Crunchies range. All of these are now long out of print (published from 1997-1999) but I cannot think of any other books that meet the demand I had from young readers for a simple chapter book about animals that were based on real events. The titles included Pig Detective, Horse of the Year, Donkey leads the way, Dolphin SOS and Dog in Danger.  There was also a book about the monkey that was sent into space and, of the whole collection, this was one of the most popular.

I was listening to a radio program today about animals used to test space endurance prior to manned missions. In the Soviet Union dogs were sent into space. You may have heard of Laika. Sadly she did not return to earth but in 1960 two other dogs Belka and Strelka were the first animals to orbit earth and return.  The Soviet Union sent 57 dogs into space during the 1950s and 1960s. I have not seen these two books but they look like a perfect way to explore this topic further with Junior primary readers.

Meanwhile America used monkeys and chimps because their physiology more closely matched humans. You can read more about the huge variety of animals sent into space here.

On the radio program they mention that France sent a cat into space. I had no idea about this.  Here are two stamps commemorating Felicette. I wonder if any one has written a picture book about her. There are plans to erect a statue of Felicette in Paris.

My friend at Kinderbookswitheverything has a fabulous range of other titles on her Pinterest collection of true animal stories. Here is a site where you can do some background reading on the topic of animals in space.

Here are some more stamps celebrating animal space heroes.