Content overview: “Félicette the Cat: France’s Pioneering Feline Astronaut Who Made Space History on Oct. 18,”. On October 18, 1963, France launched a small black-and-white cat named Félicette into space, making her the first and only feline to ever leave Earth’s atmosphere. The mission, part of France’s early space program, sent Félicette on a suborbital flight aboard a Véronique AG1 rocket from the Hammaguir launch site in Algeria. During the 15-minute journey, she experienced about five minutes of weightlessness and reached an altitude of approximately 157 kilometers (97 miles) before returning safely to Earth via parachute.
Félicette’s flight was not just a quirky footnote; it provided valuable biomedical data on how a mammal’s nervous system and behavior respond to the stresses of launch, microgravity, and reentry—critical knowledge for human spaceflight. Despite her contribution, Félicette was largely forgotten for decades, overshadowed by the more famous Soviet space dogs and American monkeys. The full version stays on the original page, which this listing opens directly.