Félicette the French space cat, the world's only feline astronaut

A photo taken on 5 February, 1964 shows a cat (not Félicette) strapped into a carrier like the one that carried France's first feline astronaut into space in October 1963. The rig was carried in the nose cone of a Véronique rocket, shown on the right. © AFP/Archive

Sixty years ago this month, France became the first country to send a cat into space. That flight, on 18 October 1963, remains the only time a feline has ever made it into space and back again. How did the French space agency do it – and why?

The Soviets liked dogs because they were easy to train. The Americans preferred mice for their size, or monkeys for their similarities with humans.