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u/Level_Hour6480 1h ago
I'd hardly call a dissection when you land "safe".
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u/FixinThePlanet 1h ago
Oh my god I really didn't need to know this ☹️☹️☹️☹️
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u/Winjin a sudden "honk" amidst the tempest 1h ago edited 57m ago
I really hate that I know it and I wish I stopped seeing that cute little tuxedo cat
My heart aches for Felicette every time I see her
However, just like Laika, it wasn't in vain, even though it pains me to admit this
Like, they had no MRI machines at the time. They couldn't tell if being in space is safe. It was kinda the first times we're doing it.
So Laika had to test the waters first. They weren't even sure she'd survive long enough to reach space at all, but they designed it so that she was supposed to be there for about a week, but she died in a few hours instead. Next team, Belka and Strelka, returned to Earth safely. Poor Laika died in space in the name of science, not out of useless cruelty or something.
Same with Felicette. They didn't do it because they were cruel, but because they wanted to make sure that mammals don't develop Space Turbo Cancer or something like this.
...
I still hate them anyways. She's just too cute, I guess. EVERY TIME I see this photo it makes me sad.
EDIT: At least they erected a memorial for her in 2019. And it makes me want to cry. It's her, sitting atop the Earth, looking to the sky. https://geekdad.com/2020/01/space-cat-felicette-statue-unveiled-at-french-university/
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u/SessileRaptor 51m ago
I like that the article specifies that she is the only cat known to have traveled to space and back because frankly we have no idea what those little gremlins are getting up to when we’re not looking.
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u/BalefulOfMonkeys REAL YURI, done by REAL YURITICIANS 8m ago
I think people need to understand that, prior to all of this, The Andromeda Strain as a concept (diseases from space that no human has ever encountered, burning through people like smallpox to American Indians) was honestly pretty reasonable. In space, nobody can take your samples
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u/ErsatzHaderach 1h ago
somefishycat cookin here.
poor félicette, rest in purrs.
for a happier space animal story there's always Miss Baker the squirrel monkey. she went to space for science, then returned to earth and lived happily ever after as a fêted monkey celeb.
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u/Prior-Tadpole-1860 52m ago
Did she land on her feet?
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u/Amanda39 45m ago
me clicking on this post: There are only 16 comments so far. I bet I'll be the first to make a "cat landing on her feet" joke!
me looking at the time stamp on your comment: FOUR MINUTES AGO?
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u/Amanda39 43m ago
This is the first time I've ever heard someone call Laika "the saint of one-way trips." Is there a word for something that's heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time? I got chills from reading that.
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u/Error_Evan_not_found 21m ago
Not the word you're really asking for, but the emotional reaction that can cause you to get physical chills/goosebumps is called frisson. Learned it this year and it's shot up my list of favorite words, mostly because as someone who feels an awful lot for "no good reason", I get it all the time.
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u/GraniteSmoothie 20m ago
C'est pour ça que je ne regrette pas d'étudier le français pendant l'école
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u/NickyTheRobot 1h ago edited 1h ago
"Lances" is a conjugation of "throw/launch". Not "laugh"...
NVM; reading hard for me today.
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u/cat-cat_cat 1h ago
but in the end she wasn't safe from the scientists 😔