1950: The first mouse
The first mouse was launched into space on August 15, 1950, and gained an altitude of 87 miles but didn’t survive the return; like Albert II, he had a parachute malfunction.
Two weeks later, on August 31, 1950, the United Space launched another mouse into space, but he too had a bum parachute and didn’t survive his mission.
More mice were launched throughout the 1950s, but it took until August 19, 1960, before mice—42 of them, in fact, and two rats—survived a trip to and from space.
