Spaced Out - Sepia Saturday

Alan's photo for this week is a researcher testing out an early space suit for the Apollo Moon Project. I thought I would acknowledge the debt we owe to animals that led the way in space. I hope you like my choice.

Enos

Chimpanzee Enos is pictured wearing a space suit and lying in his flight couch as a handler holds his hands. He is being prepared for insertion into the Mercury-Atlas 5 capsule. You may read his story at here. There is also a film clip of his journey into space which you may like to see Enos space flight.

Not so well known is the story of Teddy Bears in space.

Teddies in space

(Image courtesy of the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering and Nokia;

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

 

Four teddy bears travelled(voyaged) to the edge of space in an experiment run by Cambridge University Spaceflight, with the SPARKS science club at Parkside Community College and Coleridge Community College. The bears were lifted to 30,085 metres above sea level on a latex high altitude balloon filled with helium. The aim of the experiment was to determine which materials provided the best insulation against the -53 ° C temperatures experienced during the journey. Each of the bears wore a different space suit designed by the 11-13 year olds from SPARKS.

Im sure you all remember the Russian dogs that were sent into orbit in the early days of space flight. They deserve a tribute and I found this,

Belka & Strelka space dogs on graffiti, Kharkov 2008

(By V Vizu - Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

Don't forget to check out other space odysses at Sepia Saturday 84