타로 카드의 정확한 기원에 대해서는 여전히 학자들 사이에서 다양한 이론이 존재하지만, 일반적으로 15세기 초 이탈리아 르네상스 시대에 처음 등장한 것으로 알려져 있습니다.
1963 French Space Program | Félicette's Flight | Why We Know Laika but Not Félicette
At 8:09 AM on October 18, 1963, at the Hammaguir launch site in the Algerian Sahara Desert, the Véronique AG1 rocket ignited.
Inside the rocket, there was no human in a spacesuit. Instead, a small black-and-white tuxedo cat with electrodes attached to her head was secured in a specially designed capsule. She weighed 2.5 kg. Her name was Félicette.
Fifteen minutes later, at an altitude of 157 km—well past the Kármán line (100 km), which is known as the boundary of space—the capsule separated. The parachute deployed. And Félicette returned to Earth alive. On this day, humanity sent a cat into space for the first time in history, and that cat came back alive. Yet, most people today are completely unaware of this fact.
The Era of the Space Race — Animals Went First
To truly understand Félicette's story, you must first understand the Space Race of the early 1960s.
During the era when the United States and the Soviet Union were battling for space supremacy, there were crucial questions that had to be answered before sending humans into space. Can living organisms survive in a space environment? How does weightlessness affect biological systems? How does radiation outside the atmosphere behave? Can a living body withstand the shock of launch and reentry?
To answer these questions, animals went first. The Soviet Union sent Laika into Earth's orbit aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957. Tragically, Laika did not return alive.
At the time, the Soviet Union announced that Laika had lived for a week before being euthanized, but the truth revealed later was that she had died of heatstroke just hours after launch due to a malfunction in the thermal control system. Laika's story spread around the world, and she was remembered far longer because of her tragic end.
The United States sent Ham the chimpanzee into space in 1961. Fortunately, Ham returned alive. And France chose a cat.
Why a Cat? — The Logic of France
The US chose primates, and the Soviet Union chose dogs. There were several reasons why France opted for cats.
First, neurological research purposes: One of the core interests of the French space program was the effect of weightlessness on the nervous system. At the time, French scientists determined that a cat's nervous system was particularly well-suited for this research. Cats have a highly developed sense of balance and a complex vestibular system, making them ideal subjects for measuring neurological responses in a weightless environment.
Second, size and ease of management: Cats are much smaller than chimpanzees, making them suitable for payload in small capsules. Also, while their training process was specialized compared to dogs, their stress responses were highly valuable for research.
Third, simple historical coincidence: Under the constraints of the technology and budget France had at the time, they sought to achieve their research goals through suborbital, rather than orbital, flights, and cats fit this objective perfectly.
From 14 to 1 — Why Félicette Was Chosen
Félicette was not a candidate for space from the very beginning. The French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) and the French Aeromedical Research Center gathered about 60 cats from the streets of Paris. From them, a final group of 14 was selected based on their health condition, weight, and temperament.
These 14 selected cats went through a training program that lasted nearly two years. They experienced the G-forces of a launch in a centrifuge. They adapted to pressure changes in a compression chamber.
They grew accustomed to confined capsules through exercises in progressively smaller spaces. They were exposed to noise and vibration. Throughout this, the brainwaves and physical responses of each cat were constantly monitored. The 14 cats were narrowed down to 6 finalists, and the cat with the calmest demeanor and most stable stress response was ultimately chosen. That was Félicette.
There is an interesting fact. Some records state that the first cat originally selected for the flight was a male cat named Félix. The story goes that Félix escaped right before the flight, and Félicette was hurriedly brought in as a replacement. However, the truth of this story remains unclear. Official records state that Félicette was chosen from the beginning. Regardless of which version is true, in the end, it was Félicette who went to space.
October 18, 1963 — A 15-Minute Space Journey
On the morning of the launch, Félicette was secured in a specially made suit. Electrodes were implanted in her head to measure her brainwaves. The temperature and pressure inside the capsule were maintained to match Earth's environment.
At 8:09 AM, the Véronique AG1 rocket was ignited. About one minute after launch, the rocket reached its maximum speed. The G-force Félicette experienced was 9.5G. It is like a force 9.5 times your own body weight crushing you. The maximum force human fighter pilots can withstand through training is roughly 9G.
About 5 minutes after launch, the rocket's combustion ended, and the capsule separated. From that moment on, for about 5 minutes, Félicette experienced weightlessness. An altitude of 157 km from Earth. 57 km above the Kármán line. Up there, Félicette's brainwaves were continuously measured, and the data was transmitted to the ground.
How did the cat's nervous system react in a weightless state? According to the records, after showing an initial state of excitement during launch, Félicette's brainwaves remained relatively stable throughout the zero-gravity phase. It was not a state of panic. It was data showing that a cat's nervous system maintains its function even in a space environment.
About 15 minutes later, the parachute opened. The capsule slowly descended into the Sahara Desert. The recovery team rushed to the landing site. Wow! Félicette was alive.
A Hero's Return — But Why Does No One Know?
The Soviet Union's Laika is world-famous. America's chimpanzee Ham also appears in history books. So why was Félicette, the first cat to return alive from space, forgotten? The reasons are complex.
First, media imbalance: The year Laika flew, 1957, was the very beginning of the Space Race, a time when the whole world was obsessed with space news. In contrast, 1963 was after human spaceflight had already been achieved. Gagarin had already gone to space in 1961. A cat's flight was relatively minor news.
Second, France's independent space program: Amidst the international attention focused almost entirely on the US-Soviet Space Race, France's independent space program received relatively less spotlight.
Third, name confusion: Right after the flight, some media falsely reported the cat's name as Félix. Her actual name, Félicette, was not properly known for a long time.
Fourth, there was no tragedy: Paradoxically, Félicette is remembered less precisely because she came back alive. Laika's story left a much deeper impression due to her tragic death. Happy endings are less seared into our memory.
The Second Flight and Félicette's End
There is a lesser-known sequel to Félicette's story. On October 24, 1963, just six days later, a second cat was sent into space. The name of this second cat is not well-recorded. Tragically, due to a technical issue where the parachute failed to deploy properly, this cat died.
And what happened to Félicette? After the flight, she was continuously observed for scientific research. Neurological studies continued through the electrodes implanted in her brain. And, sadly, about two months after her flight in December 1963, Félicette was euthanized for research purposes. It was to study her brain tissue. The first cat to travel to space returned alive, but did not live long. And for a long time, she was forgotten.
Justice 50 Years Later — The People Who Remember Félicette
It is relatively recent that Félicette began to receive historical spotlight. In 2017, British graphic designer Matt Surber launched a crowdfunding campaign. The goal was to build a bronze statue of Félicette and place it in Paris or another suitable location. The campaign was highly successful, far exceeding its goal.
In 2019, a bronze statue of Félicette was erected in Strasbourg, France, home to the International Space University. In the statue, Félicette sits atop a rocket, looking up at the stars. And that same year, a crater on Mars was named after her. The International Astronomical Union officially named a topographical feature on the Martian surface Félicette.
Laika has a crater on the Moon named after her, appeared on Soviet stamps, and has been the subject of numerous books and documentaries. It took 56 years for Félicette to get a statue and a crater named after her on Mars. It was a bit late, but the remembrance of Félicette had finally begun.
The Meaning of a Cat Going to Space
There is something peculiar about Félicette's story. Through this series of cat stories, we have seen how cats have accompanied humanity's most important moments in such diverse ways. At the center of Egyptian civilization, in the palaces of the Ottoman Empire, in the scriptoriums of medieval monasteries, on the decks of Antarctic expedition ships, on the US federal government payroll, and in 1963, in space.
At the exact moment humanity first began exploring beyond Earth's atmosphere, a cat was right there with us. It wasn't intentional. The cat was chosen simply because it was suitable for neurological research. But as a result, a cat was etched into a page of history where humanity reached out toward the cosmos.
During those 5 minutes when Félicette floated weightless at an altitude of 157 km, what did those little feline eyes see? If there had been a window, she would have seen the blue Earth. She would have seen the blackness of space. She would have seen the stars. Everything we yearn to see would have been right before her eyes.
Félicette of Mars
Somewhere on the surface of Mars, there is indeed a crater named Félicette. In the photos taken by probes, that crater covered in red dust holds the name of a 2.5 kg tuxedo cat who ascended to space from the Sahara Desert in 1963. The cat who was forgotten for 56 years, but finally earned her name on Mars, Félicette...
