In April 1985, the Space Shuttle Challenger carried an unusual crew alongside its seven astronauts. Inside the Spacelab-3 module, sent up to test how living creatures cope with weightlessness, there were 24 rats and two squirrel monkeys. NASA’s official mission record for STS-51B shows that the shuttle lifted off on April 29, 1985, and spent seven days in orbit before landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
A flying lab built just for animals